March 20, 2018
Recent news from Twitter suggests there are plans in the pipeline that could see us all the proud owners of our very own blue ticks in the future.
Twitter verification has been under scrutiny for a while now, with most users seeing it as a symbol of endorsement or credibility when it is simply meant to be a form of distinguishing between real and parody celebrity accounts. Jack Dorsey has admitted that in Twitter’s opinion, the current verification process is not working out for the platform.
The process was heavily criticised and temporarily made unavailable last year after Twitter gave the badge to controversial figures, such as Jason Kessler. Users saw this as a reward as such, or an implication that Twitter was endorsing their views.
Twitter want to expand the verification to make it open to everyone on the premise users will be able to verify more facts about themselves. There’s a high chance the introduction of a new process has something to do with helping Twitter crack down on the amount of bot accounts.
Instagram has come under less scrutiny for the way they verify accounts, even though they have exactly the same reasoning as Twitter. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have anything to do with follower count; it’s just based on helping users find genuine, authentic celebrity and public-figure accounts, rather than impersonators.
Twitter want to do this to help users find “great, high-quality accounts”, however, there must be some restrictions in place. Twitter isn’t giving away any information at the moment as to what the new verification process will be, but surely it will have to amount to more than just proving your identity? With a blue tick comes responsibility! We’ll keep you posted…