One of the great mysteries of Twitter, for a long time, was how could one get a “verified” account. A little blue check mark next to your name didn’t just mean celebrities were who they said they were, it was a sign that you were taken seriously by Twitter and its ominous black box of social media relevance, especially if you weren’t particularly famous outside certain circles. Of course, that’s all by the boards now that you can just, ugh, ask for one.
Newly announced by Twitter is their application to be verified. Yes, anybody can now ask for the little blue check and all the validation that comes with it. All you have to do is fill out a form. Of course, you do have to give Twitter your phone number and birthday, but just throw them your account, a few links to prove you are who you say you are and that you’re remotely important as a human being, and they will consider you for verification, adding you to the elite ranks of politicians, artists, influencers, and this guy. You won’t necessarily get it, of course, but since it takes two seconds, why not?
On the one hand, it’s nice to finally have a grasp of how, exactly, verification works while still having it be an obtuse process, proving Twitter keeps to its traditions. On the other hand, considering what’s been happening on the site with Leslie Jones getting buried under racist harassment, perhaps Twitter should have asked itself if clarifying its verification guidelines should have been their top priority.
(via CNBC)