X Checkmarks have changed
Out with the original blue checkmarks process that we have known for years that notified the world about the status of government figures, entertainers, athletes, activists, content creators, or journalists. We have a new process in place.

It was never an easy process to obtain the original blue checkmark. It was a hard application to make for the ordinary person including checks on how your real name compared to your Twitter handle. Twitter preferred “JohnSmith” rather than “JohnSmith_the_genius”.
I also ran a project to add the original blue checkmark to 20+ X (Twitter) handles for my company. That was easy to do as I was working direct with the Twitter team in Amsterdam who I had met previously and presented at one of their company events. So a very easy and pleasant project. However, those days are behind us. In with the new process, and it is no longer a free endeavour.
Blue checkmarks
“The basic way is to PAY”. You pay via Twitter Blue. Twitter Blue subscriptions are available with monthly or annual prices.

New functionality will be a big attraction for Twitter blue users like 4,000-character tweets. Would you pay for all of this?

Gold checkmarks
The gold checkmark comes with a square profile picture for official business accounts through X (Twitter) Verified Organizations. Gold checkmark companies can designate accounts within the organization as affiliates of the organizational account. An affiliated account will get a checkmark and an affiliate badge-derived organizational account profile picture.
The cost will be much larger for this checkmark compared to the blue one.

Compared to the social media conversation about the blue checkmark, the gold version has received 6% of the volume compared to the blue checkmark.
Grey checkmarks
We also have a grey checkmark too. This denotes a government, multilateral organizations, or their officials.
Compared to the social media conversation about the blue checkmark, the grey version has received 2% of the volume compared to the blue checkmark. This shows the much reduced interest around this new version.
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Hi Clive, I have the premium for this month to test it out. I’m not that impressed so far. My stats showed higher but traffic from Twitter overall has dropped. I think they have too many options with communities and spaces. Just like FB with groups and such, it all becomes diluted. (Unless you pay for ads.)
I saw your tweet waiting for the approval so I was waiting for your early feedback. What about the send and edit functionality plus the 4,000 character count?