Being verified on Twitter is a big deal to some social media addicts. People take you slightly more seriously, your insults pop up first in people’s mentions, and everybody wants to know how you got that tiny blue checkmark. Twitter hasn’t unveiled any new process since halting verification in 2016. But now, thanks to a Wired interview with Twitter CEO @jack Dorsey, people think bugging a guy named Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) is all they have to do.
During a Q&A session, Dorsey was asked questions about Twitter via Twitter. One of those questions? “How does one acquire the illustrious check mark on Twitter?” Dorsey candidly responded: “There’s a guy named Kayvon, and he handles all the verification, which is the blue checkmark. So if you either DM him or mention him, you have a high probability of getting a blue checkmark.” Doesn’t seem like it’d be that easy!
And it isn’t. Beykpour, a product lead at Twitter who definitely didn’t want the attention, has been getting flooded with mentions since Wired’s interview has gone live, and he hasn’t responded to any of those hundreds of tweets. But he has changed his Twitter bio, as a kind of reply all.
Still, that’s not stopping users from harassing Beykpour.
He did reply to one message, though, in true Twitter fashion: with a GI.
[via Boing Boing]
18 Comments
Being verified on Twitter is nothing more than a vanity ploy to get people to notice you and give you a tremendous feeling of self-importance to validate an existence otherwise full of vapid bullshit. Source: I’m verified and it’s the best thing ever!
Social media gamifying social interaction has utterly wrecked our brains, as a culture. Seeing the stars thumbs and hearts go up is the only way my brain releases serotonin anymore.
Alternate take: It’s useful to be verified on social media if you’re someone worth impersonating. (Note: Your ex wanting to fuck up your life by making a fake account does not qualify.)
Any asshole can write that they’re, say, the Associated Press’ White House correspondent in their profile. The blue checkmark tells you that’s probably true and when they tweet “breaking news,” it’s probably right.
That would theoretically be useful, but then people started stupidly assuming that verification meant Twitter was somehow endorsing people and saw that people who really were the hated figures they claimed to be had such checkmarks.
I think if Twitter has proved anything, it’s that stupidity is an endlessly renewable resource online — especially on Twitter.
Probably right, but possibly also the Official Conservative Party Press Office.
Jack seems like a really shit boss, the passive-aggressive type who’s always “looking for new ways of working” that essentially shoving more stuff onto everyone else.Also he demands you call him a friend, not a boss.
He also only eats 7 meals a week and thinks that’s healthy (biohacking is an toxic masculine form of an eating disorder). And also allows Nazis on twitter
Well he looks so healthy for a … Oh he’s 43?
“I’m not a ‘regular boss’, I’m a ‘cool boss’. Also, I need you to work the next three weekends.”
Post some ISIS videos, that’ll do the trick. Be sure and use your real name!
If you care about being verified you should genuinely, literally kill yourself.
I think it’s fucking hilarious that Jack mega trolled his employee in this Wired video. People are all like “mer mer Jack is a bad boss”, “lol Jack doesn’t even know wtf.” Nope. This is workplace hijinks at it’s best.
Nice of him to demonstrate the shitty design of Twitter: If a famous person mentions you in any way prepare for endless harassment.
Say what you will, the track Pwussy Money Weed slaps.
More evidence of modern society morphing into the underlying hierarchical social structure of a middle-school cafeteria. Sweet.
Well, I may not have a blue tick, but I do have this piece of paper that says I’m not allowed to come within 500 metres of Hugh Jackman. How many people can say that?