Facebook To Offer Verified Accounts & Higher Visibility To Top Users

From the beginning, Facebook has been about a community of real people and has used everything from .edu email addresses to mobile verification for support. Now Facebook is helping top users (those with the most subscribers) gain more prominence by verifying their account with physical IDs. TechCrunch announced that Facebook is inviting “prominent public figures” to […]

Greg Finn on February 20, 2012 at 7:52 am

From the beginning, Facebook has been about a community of real people and has used everything from .edu email addresses to mobile verification for support. Now Facebook is helping top users (those with the most subscribers) gain more prominence by verifying their account with physical IDs. TechCrunch announced that Facebook is inviting “prominent public figures” to verify their accounts and display a preferred nickname.

This verification process will help users be found easier as well. While no verification badge will be shown, verified users will appear in the Facebook Subscribe suggestions more often:

It should be noted that this feature is not available to everyone. Verification is targeted towards those who already have strong subscriber numbers. The verification invites began rolling this past Thursday.

In addition to the higher visibility, verified users will be able to change their displayed name to a pseudonym. This can be actively seen when following Facebook’s Director of Engineering, Andrew Bosworth aka ‘Boz.’ So instead of subscribing to Curtis Jackson, you’ll soon be able to follow ’50 Cent.’

Users can become verified by uploading a color copy of one of the following:

Passport
Drivers Licence
Work/Military ID
School or Work ID

If you don’t have the above, you can become verified with 2 of the following:

Library Card
Credit Card
Birth Certificate
Social Security Cards

Upon verification, users can also set their alternate name:

So if you have a large subscriber account and are looking to be verified, keep your eyes peeled for a a verification invite.

About The Author

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides world-class social media and search marketing services and web & application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 10+ years and specializes in Digital Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.