WebProNews

Tag: Verified Accounts

  • Twitter Gives Verified Users More Features

    Twitter announced some new features for verified users, making verified status all the more sought after by those who haven’t been graced with the illustrious blue circle with a checkmark in it.

    Verified users are getting alerts when other verified users follow them from Twitter’s Android and iOS apps, and the option to view their verified followers from their own profile. That second feature is on iOS only for the time being.

    “Similar to how we help businesses make advertising simple and effective on Twitter, we occasionally build features that enable these public figures — verified users — to engage more easily with the world through Twitter,” says Twitter product manager Jinen Kamdar.

    “We hope these two features will help verified users easily connect with each other so we can continue to deliver those only-on-Twitter conversations to users,” he says.

    The feature is likely a direct response to Facebook’s recent launch of Mentions, an app specifically for for celebrities and other “public figures”. At least one celebrity isn’t a fan of that, mostly because it’s a separate app. Twitter is smart to just boost its functionality from within the Twitter apps people already use.

    If you don’t have a verified account on Twitter, and feel like you deserve one, good luck. Even though the feature launched like five years ago, Twitter still isn’t even letting people submit their accounts for consideration. You basically just have to wait for Twitter to give you one on its own.

    Twitter says on an FAQ page, “If you think you meet the criteria for verification and have not yet received a badge, please be patient. We are working within key interest areas to verify accounts that are sought after by other Twitter users. We don’t accept verification requests from the general public, but we encourage you to continue using Twitter in a meaningful way, and you may be verified in the future. Please note that follower count is not a factor in determining whether an account meets our criteria for verification.”

    The official (and verified) “Verified Accounts” Twitter account hasn’t even tweeted or responded to a tweet for two years.

    Image via Twitter

  • A Funny Look at Getting Verified on Twitter [VIDEO]

    For those of you who love Twitter and wish to have influence on the network, the sad fact is that you’ll probably never be verified. No matter how hard you try, Twitter isn’t likely to contact you directly, expressing their wish to add that little blue check mark next to your name. Sorry man, it’s just not going to happen (for most of you).

    The best you can do is to live vicariously through Anil Dash, who sat down with the Kondabolu brothers to discuss the process, and it’s a pretty entertaining watch.

    [Hari Kondabolu via The Next Web]

  • These Phony Twitter Accounts Can’t Verify You (Hint: They’re Not Even Verified Themselves)

    I know that it would be really cool to be verified on Twitter. It would mean that you were important – important enough to need a verified account because of all the jokers out there that want to create fake accounts because they want to be you. You’re that cool. At least it would be cool to have the illusion of social media relevance, right?

    But if you run across a Twitter profile claiming to offer quick and easy verifications if you only retweet their posts, don’t fall for it.

    The Verge ran a story on a particular bogus Twitter account, @PrivateVerified, that had amassed over 22,000 followers in less than a day. How did it become so popular? Simple – by asking users to follow and retweet in order to receive verification.

    That account was quickly suspended, but it led to readers finding tons of other fraudulent accounts that promised verification. It’s kind of an epidemic, actually. Take for instance @VerifiedTwitter, @requestVerified and @NextVerified, all of which has thousands of followers but are now shut down.

    Of course, these types of accounts keep popping up in place of the ones Twitter catches onto. It’s like a giant game of whack-a-mole. Take @freeverifiying for instance, which has over 16,000 followers.

    Don’t do it. They can’t verify you. No. Don’t click it. What are you doing. Dont. Stahp.

    Here’s what Twitter has to say about the verification process:

    Twitter proactively verifies accounts on an ongoing basis to make it easier for users to find who they’re looking for. We concentrate on highly sought users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, advertising, business, and other key interest areas. We verify business partners from time to time and individuals at high risk of impersonation.

    We do not accept requests for verification from the general public. If you fall under one of the above categories and your Twitter account meets our qualifications for verification, we may reach out to you in the future.

    Twitter is not going to ask you for retweets in order to verify your account. Twitter is especially not going to ask you for retweets from a non-verified account in order to verify your account (all of these bogus accounts are un-verified themselves).

    There is one real Twitter account dealing with verified accounts, however. It’s @verified and yes, it’s verified by Twitter. Although it has over 730,000 followers, it hasn’t tweeted since August. And even though it’s an official Twitter account, it never offered quick verifications to anyone – it simply tweeted out helpful links.

  • Nintendo Announces Verified Accounts For Miiverse

    Nintendo created what was essentially Twitter for gaming with its Miiverse application on the Wii U. Since launch, it has become one of the most loved features on the console. Now Nintendo is making Miiverse more like Twitter.

    During its Nintendo Direct presentation this morning, Nintendo announced verified accounts for Miiverse. Much like verified accounts for Twitter, these are accounts reserved for public figures and developers. Unlike Twitter, however, these verified accounts have special powers that are exclusive to them on Miiverse.

    Beyond having a special green mark attached to the profile, verified accounts can insert links to Web sites in their Miiverse posts. They can also embed YouTube videos that show off speed runs or other game related content.

    So, how will this actually work? One example was how the director of New Super Mario Bros. U could embed YouTube videos of speed runs. He could use this to challenge players directly. They can also use it to interact with players and ask their opinion of the games.

    A lot of game developers already use Twitter and Facebook to interact directly with fans, but Miiverse could be a little more special. There’s just something awesome about interacting with your game’s fans right from the game’s Miiverse community.

    Verified accounts will be available in the Spring as part of the first major firmware update to the Wii U.

  • Twitter Cuts Out Replies From Verified Accounts’ Timelines

    One of the most endearing qualities a celebrity, brand, or otherwise verified Twitter account can have is user engagement. Sure, it’s interesting to follow them for the humor, the information, or the insight into their day-to-day lives. But if Twitter account is enough of a BFD to be verified, and they still take the time to respond to the little man – well, they’re special.

    This is naturally very exciting for whoever gets the replies. But for everyone else, a celeb’s Twitter feed may become flooded by @ replies, making it unable for you to browse through their actual tweets.

    That problem is now a thing of the past, as Twitter has just announced that verified accounts are now available with or without replies.

    The verified account will be set to “No replies” by default, which means you won’t see any @ replies tweeted by the account. You can easily click over to “All” if you want to see their conversations along with their original tweets.

    From the Twitter blog:

    This simplified profile, which we’re rolling out to verified accounts over the coming weeks, makes it easier to understand what kind of content the user shares on Twitter, and what Tweets you’ll see if you follow them. (Remember that replies on Twitter begin with an @username and are only seen by people who follow both the Tweet author and the @username at the beginning of the Tweet.)

    Of course, this new feature won’t really change anything for the pages of celebs and brands that don’t make a habit of dishing out replies. But for some high-profile Twitter users, copious replies are the norm. For those users, this will most likely prove to be a great new feature.