Twitter co-founder Biz Stone posted a blog entry today in response to the frivolous lawsuit filed by St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa after his account was impersonated. Stone wrote that the law suit was “an unnecessary waste of judicial resources.”
The law suit, however, was an impetus for Stone providing a sneak preview of the social network’s new “verified accounts,” to try and more proactively prevent impersonation rather than simply react (though I must say that they react to impersonations pretty quickly — as I experienced a couple weeks ago). Verified accounts will make a special note on a user profile that the user is indeed who it says it is (whether it be an individual or organization).
Stone said that verification will begin with a small set of users, including public officials, public agencies, famous folks and the like. The beta will include only a small set of users due to resource constraints.
This does not mean, of course, that you should block or unfollow anyone without a verified account, especially considering the small beta. Stone said:
Please note that this doesn’t mean accounts without a verification seal are fake—the vast majority of Twitter accounts are not impersonators. Another way to determine authenticity is to check the official web site of the person for a link back to their Twitter account.
Stone also wrote that businesses will not be included in the original beta, but they do see an opportunity moving forward for these types of organization. Could this be part of Twitter’s master money-making plan? If so, it would be a good idea. In the meantime I’m glad to see Twitter taking impersonation issues so seriously.
