A few years ago, being verified on Twitter was a real badge of honor for a lot of people. It was a sign of legitimacy, a sign that you were someone that was truly high profile in every single way and that you would be able to provide your followers with quality content all in all. However, as of late Twitter paused the verification process.
According to people high up at Twitter including Kayvon Beykpour, product lead at Twitter and the co-founder of Periscope, making any updates to the verification process is not currently a top priority for the social media platform, and there are a number of different reasons why this is the case. In spite of the fact that a lot of people take a lot of pride in verification, the system is a complete mess, and this might just be the biggest reason why Twitter has put it on hold for the time being.
The fact of the matter is that in spite of the fact that verification is such an enormous source of prestige, the verification process is not quite as impartial as a lot of people think. Many users get verified on social media platforms (including Facebook and Instagram) because of the fact that they have contacts within the company, or they have established some kind of professional relationship with the company.
Big name sports players, artists, musicians and corporate executives are far more likely to get verified because of the fact that they have the sort of contacts that will actually make this sort of access possible. Verification does not happen on a level playing field. There are countless thought leaders and authoritative individuals that definitely deserve the prestige of verification but have not gotten it yet, whereas many people that have only just started their careers have gotten verified for inexplicable reasons.
Basically, big social media platforms have unquestioned power regarding who to verify and when, and this is causing a consolidation of power on the internet which is leading to a social hierarchy developing. There is also the fact that women often face quite a bit of harassment after getting verified, which further shows just how uneven this playing field can end up being at times. The controversial status of verification doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon, and social networks inducing Twitter will be thinking a lot before reinstating the process.
Read next: How to Spot Social Media, Email and Internet Scams (infographic)
According to people high up at Twitter including Kayvon Beykpour, product lead at Twitter and the co-founder of Periscope, making any updates to the verification process is not currently a top priority for the social media platform, and there are a number of different reasons why this is the case. In spite of the fact that a lot of people take a lot of pride in verification, the system is a complete mess, and this might just be the biggest reason why Twitter has put it on hold for the time being.
The fact of the matter is that in spite of the fact that verification is such an enormous source of prestige, the verification process is not quite as impartial as a lot of people think. Many users get verified on social media platforms (including Facebook and Instagram) because of the fact that they have contacts within the company, or they have established some kind of professional relationship with the company.
Big name sports players, artists, musicians and corporate executives are far more likely to get verified because of the fact that they have the sort of contacts that will actually make this sort of access possible. Verification does not happen on a level playing field. There are countless thought leaders and authoritative individuals that definitely deserve the prestige of verification but have not gotten it yet, whereas many people that have only just started their careers have gotten verified for inexplicable reasons.
Basically, big social media platforms have unquestioned power regarding who to verify and when, and this is causing a consolidation of power on the internet which is leading to a social hierarchy developing. There is also the fact that women often face quite a bit of harassment after getting verified, which further shows just how uneven this playing field can end up being at times. The controversial status of verification doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon, and social networks inducing Twitter will be thinking a lot before reinstating the process.
Read next: How to Spot Social Media, Email and Internet Scams (infographic)
