Comments on: Verified Microblogging Insurance for Microcelebs

By: Karen S.

Karen S. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:19:50 +0000

I really enjoyed this post. I will definitely check back later for more informative posts from you. Thanks!

By: Adriel Hampton

Adriel Hampton — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:45:41 +0000

I do think it is high time for Twitter to offer this service, and also to do a much better job enforcing the TOS. I blogged about this topic a while back – http://adrielhampton.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/authenticated-twitter-accounts-are-a-great-monetization-strategy/ – in terms of a money-making strategy.
For those of us active on Twitter, impersonation isn’t really a terrible threat (I know you’ve got a mock account after you, imitation being the best form of flattery). However, for many public officials, it is, and that will only increase if Twitter retains its popularity and relevance. In one example, for a number of months, the Deval Patrick account was run by an anti-Patrick blogger (I am happy to see that today it has been suspended).

By: Twitted by cheeky_geeky

Twitted by cheeky_geeky — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:47:57 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by cheeky_geeky – Real-url.org [...]

By: Ernesto

Ernesto — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:31:41 +0000

Meh.. I think Evan Williams just wants to hang out with celebrities… you know “verify” them.

This will likely cause Twitter some trouble.

By: Andy Oram

Andy Oram — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:34:06 +0000

Impersonation is a serious concern, and your comments are quite useful. The tension between verifying identity and allowing unfettered Internet access goes back to the first spam messages–and even further, to Usenet news. One good journalistic investigation (obviously politically slanted, as shown by its publication in The Nation and its title, “The New Right-Wing Smear Machine”) is here:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071112/hayes/

But we don’t want people to have to present a birth certificate or credit card before signing up for an email account, and I don’t believe we want to force that for Twitter either. Kicking someone off for impersonating a famous person forces a service to go through the same verification process, but on the famous person instead of the individual signing up.