Thousands of prominent people from different walks of life, who use Twitter as a platform to air their views can now get the valued 'blue tick' with more ease after the company brought about changes to the whole process. Twitter has stated that it would now take applications from well known personalities who wish to be verified. The new process kicked in on July 19th and any Twitter user can now submit a form asking to be verified and in this way, the whole thing is expected to become far less cumbersome. Over the years, there have been many instances in which it had been seen that people who might be otherwise well known didn't have verified accounts since Twitter decided who would be verified.
The company released the update in a post published in the Twitter help center. It stated, "To be able to complete the form, your account must have the following:
- A verified phone number
- A confirmed email address
- A bio
- A profile photo
- A header photo
- A birthday (for accounts that are not company, brand, or organization accounts)
- A website
- Tweets set as public in Tweet privacy settingg"
A report in the Hollywood Reporter stated, "It's a departure for the company, which previously did not accept requests from the public for verification and instead noted on the site that it might reach out to influential users to offer them the verified badge. Twitter's criteria for verification remains vague, even under the more open application process. The company says it approves accounts "determined to be of public interest" and that it typically verifies accounts "maintained by users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business and other key interest areas." "
Twitter's vice president of user services, Tina Bhatnagar said, "We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification. We hope opening up this application process results in more people finding great, high-quality accounts to follow and for these creators and influencers to connect with a broader audience."
