Tuesday Buzz: Why You Aren’t Verified on Twitter

Twitter’s “verified” icon may be one of the greatest enigmas of the entire internet.

That little piece of flair, which authenticates the identities of people and brands on Twitter, was launched at first to prove that celebrities were really who they said they were. But the purpose of the blue verified badge seems to have shifted at some point, and these days it seems to be found on the accounts of mostly random people (specifically, those of journalists).

To try to explain the way that Twitter verifies accounts, Digiday compiled some stories  (opens in a new tab) of prominent members of the media who have sought the check mark. And basically, the decision-making process is as random as you’d expect: One magazine publisher was told his company had to shell out a certain sum on advertising to get the blue badge; a journalist had to simply fill out some forms; still others got the check mark just because they talked to the right people or work at the right company. (If you’re a BuzzFeed employee, for example, you’re pretty much guaranteed success.)

For associations, the story is a bit of bad news: Trade publications rarely get the mark, no matter how popular they are—something the travel-news site Skift (48,400 followers)  (opens in a new tab) learned the hard way from Twitter.

Have a blue check mark of your own? How did it happen? Tell us in the comments below.

Webinar of the Week

https://twitter.com/WebLink/status/618444304361459712

Trying to figure out how to win over those pesky millennials? It’s a big challenge, obviously, but WebLink International’s latest webinar, taking place tomorrow afternoon  (opens in a new tab), could prove a big help in figuring out some techniques to win over the younger audiences.

Hey, they might be covering some ground you aren’t!

Other Links of Note

Is turning off comments to posts the way to calm a community down? That appears to be the strategy The Verge is trying for a while  (opens in a new tab) to help cool off the jets of its readers.

If you’re looking forward to iOS 9, good news for you, according to Gizmodo: The new updates to the OS really improve the experience  (opens in a new tab).

Before you make a big upgrade to your association’s technology, be sure the right foundation is in place to make it thrive, DelCor President David Coriale writes  (opens in a new tab).