May 31, 2013
Following in the footsteps of Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, Facebook announced yesterday that it would be launching verified accounts for an elite group of prominent brands and public figures.
Social Media accounts are rife with duplicate accounts and Facebook has notoriously had difficulties with the volume of fake accounts on the platform. For example, when searching for Justin Bieber on Facebook nearly 100 results are returned! This is a mix of duplicate pages and fan groups. The verified pages will therefore help fans to find the authentic accounts of high-profile people and businesses on the popular social network.
Facebook has been slow on the uptake of verified accounts; Twitter first launched this feature 4 years ago and other platforms have followed suit. Last year Facebook purged 83 million of its fake profiles, and verification of profiles is a further step towards the weeding out of false accounts.
For the elite few that have had their Facebook accounts pass the verifying process already, a small blue check mark will now be visible on their Timelines and in search results. At the moment, Facebook has not released details on their verification process, however, if you are looking to show followers that you are a trustworthy source across your social media estates then have a look at this quick guide on how to get a verified account on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest!
Similarly to Facebook, Twitter concentrates on high profile personalities and brands. They do not accept requests for verification from the general public. However, if you are not a superstar or a massive brand you can still show that your brand is authentic by linking to your Twitter profile from an official website; this is the easiest way to confirm the authenticity of your Twitter account.
Whilst the final verification is still up to Google, the process is more open. There are still certain steps that brands need to take before a Google+ account is verified:
– You must have 1000 followers
– Business website must be linked and contain the G+ badge
– Your email must be verified
Pinterest has a simpler process as you can self-verify your account simply by entering your web address in the Website field, then clicking ‘Verify Website’. You can then verify with an HTML file or a META tag.