« Half of Canadian Web Searches Contain Just 1-2 Words | Main | After Selling Off Media Division, MIVA to Rebrands as Vertro »
June 8, 2009
Twitter to Launch Verified Accounts to Help Prevent Impersonation
When public figures and celebrities have people pretending to be them, the self-important get all bent out of shape. Twitter has been ripe for impersonations, despite the ban of such accounts via the Twitter Terms of Service. While Twitter is aggressive in suspending fake accounts, I would argue most people are able to spot these fakes a mile away. That doesn't prevent the impersonated from getting their egos bruised.
For these celebrities and also for the rare down-to-earth ones, Twitter is launching Verified Accounts. It will begin as an experimental offering this summer. The experiment will begin with individuals, though Twitter sees potential in extending verification to businesses in the future.
You'll know if an account is official by a notification on the user's page. Twitter also suggested checking out the official website of the public figure you're interested in to see if they link to their Twitter account.
In the meantime, continue using that brain of yours to spot the fakes. Usually, they're as obvious as the Prado street vendors in New York City.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on June 8, 2009 12:21 PM
Comments
Patrick June 8, 2009 1:43 PM
I think it's ridiculous that Twitter is getting sued for an account that was a fake. It's not Twitters job to have to worry about this. On the other hand, I think verified accounts are great because you never know if someone is real or not.
twitter backgrounds June 8, 2009 2:24 PM
Good move by Twitter. Spam and fake profiles were the death of MySpace and other social networking sites.
Chrissy June 8, 2009 9:40 PM
Definitely a good idea. It will get rid of all the fake accounts so then you will know who is real and stop them from getting sued again.
Oliver June 9, 2009 9:11 AM
So would having a verified account make me a celebrity? :)