Google+ always had it and Twitter too, and now Facebook has joined the ‘verified accounts only’ wagon.
What is Facebook Doing?
Facebook will now begin verifying the accounts of celebrities and other public figures. After verification, the user will be allowed to use their public aliases or nicknames as their Facebook name. Also the verified celebrity accounts will be displayed by Facebook advising users to ‘Subscribe’ to their public updates.
What Does This Mean?
With verification, only the real celebrities will be on the social platform and use their aliases. For instance, Lady Gaga can keep her pseudonym only when her real name Stefani Germanotta will be verified by Facebook. After verification her account will have the display name on these lines- “Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga)” or “Lady Gaga.” The other celebrities who have more famous nicknames are like Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, 50 Cent and others. After being verified by Facebook, people subscribed to Snoop Dogg’s updates will see his name as either “Calvin Broadus (Snoop Dogg)” or “Snoop Dogg.”
The Verification Process
The accounts with a huge number of subscribers will start getting verified now by Facebook. Like Twitter does, Facebook will also choose the accounts it wants to verify. Users themselves cannot offer for verification. The things
For verification purposes, account holders need to submit an image of a government-issued photo ID like driver’s license or the passport. If the user does not possess a government ID, they can submit two forms of alternate IDs like a credit card and birth certificate. Facebook has assured that they will permanently delete the IDs post successful account verification.
After verification of an account, the user can enter their nickname or stage name in their account to be displayed next to their real name on their Facebook account, or displayed in place of their real name. The social network plans to approve the stage names of verified user manually.The verified accounts will not have any sort of badge to support their verification and this can be a problem for users in knowing they are following the real celebrity.
Will it Work?
Celebrity accounts on social networks have always been at the receiving end of scams and attacks. Spamming and other disturbing activities have been conducted via false celebrity accounts by hackers. Twitter and other social networking firms have been embarrassed many times due to these mishaps. Celebrity account verification processes used by these platforms is a way of ensuring to keep the fake miscreants out as well as ensure that users are connected to the real celebrity. Regular users will not be bothered by Facebook’s verification system, and they will be secure in their knowledge that they are following the real Lady Gaga.
