Twitter launches verified accounts

Monday, July 20, 2009

Twitter launched the first phase of its Verified Accounts program moments ago, meaning that celebrities, musicians, athletes, actors, public officials and public agencies on the service can now display a “verified account” button on their Twitter pages.

For instance, visiting Twitter.com/mashable, you’ll see that I am indeed the real Pete Cashmore. Likewise, Twitter (Twitter) celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Oprah now carry the button. Those wishing to apply for verified status can visit the verified accounts help page, which explains:

With this feature, you can easily see which accounts we know are ‘real’ and authentic. That means we’ve been in contact with the person or entity the account is representing and verified that it is approved. (This does not mean we have verified who, exactly, is writing the tweets.)