Plainly X’s experiment with charging all users $1 to create an account hasn’t had a serious influence on app downloads within the two check areas.
Properly, in relative phrases at the very least.
As you may see on this chart, through app evaluation supplier Sensor Tower, whereas X has declined within the general app rankings during the last three months, because it started its $1 “Not a Bot” sign-up check in New Zealand, it’s nonetheless been comparatively secure within the general obtain figures for the area.
X initially introduced its scheme to cost $1 for all new customers in the event that they wish to interact within the app back on October 17th, with new account sign-ups in each New Zealand and the Philippines required to pay a small, annual price to interact within the app.
Based mostly on this chart, X was ranked 77th in general downloads on October seventeenth, when the check begun, then it dropped to 89th the day after. Which can have been in response to the change, however since then, X has fluctuated within the NZ app charts. It’s presently the 91st most downloaded app within the area, which is notable drop from 77th, however nonetheless, X downloads haven’t tanked fully on account of the shift.
It’s truly been the other within the Philippines, with X downloads on iOS rising for the reason that check started, going from seventieth on the iOS obtain charts on October seventeenth, to thirty second as we speak.
Related tendencies are mirrored within the Google Play Retailer charts for each areas, with NZ Android downloads remaining comparatively secure, and Philippines downloads rising. Android is the dominant OS within the Philippines, so these stats are seemingly extra indicative. X has moved up 50 spots within the free app rankings on Android in PH, from 190 in the beginning of November, to 140 this week.
The numbers are seemingly an excellent signal for X’s push to make extra folks pay for the app, however then once more, customers can nonetheless obtain and use the app without spending a dime in each areas, with the $1 fee solely coming into play if customers wish to publish, or work together with different posts within the app.
And whenever you additionally think about that 80% of all X users never post anything at all, it could not truly be that large of a hurdle for utilization, with most individuals prone to simply decide out of partaking as a substitute of paying up.
Nonetheless, the numbers don’t mirror a major swing away from the app because of this, and it’d be attention-grabbing to additionally get perception from X as to how many individuals are literally paying the brand new $1 annual price (word: the $1 price just isn’t listed as a high 10 buy in both area in Sensor Tower’s app overviews).
The precept right here does make some sense, in that charging for an lively profile might make it extra cost-prohibitive for bot peddlers to function within the app. However extra subtle bot operations will seemingly simply construct the price into their prices, whereas the choice motivation is probably going for X to get extra customers connecting their financial institution particulars to the app, with a view to its future push into funds, commerce, and so on.
I don’t suppose that charging all customers is the optimum method to capitalize on the app’s alternatives, neither is it a broad-scale answer to fight bots, however I do perceive X’s motivation, and its makes an attempt to strive new issues to battle bots.
And perhaps, primarily based on these figures at the very least, there could possibly be some benefit to the initiative.
