Oh, look at that, more Twitter news. Well, more like tips, rather than actual news. Twitter’s new checkmarks and profile indicators are indeed confusing, but perhaps this newly released infographic straight from Twitter itself might help clear up some of the fuzziness.
Pre-Elon, Twitter already had blue ticks, which were an indicator that an account had some level of public profile, whether that’d be due to celebrity status, academic achievement, notoriety, audience size, etc.
Why Even Check?
Regardless of the era, Twitter checkmarks were always rather vague, Elon Musk just decided to blow the whole thing up by instead providing the tick to all users, not just specified accounts. Want a check for yourself? Go sign up for Twitter’s new $8 monthly Twitter Blue package then. He was innovative enough to throw in some additional refinements to help combat various forms of potential identity theft.
The result is a bit more nuanced, but also a bit more complex. If you find yourself scanning through the badges on an account, getting lost, and trying to figure out which thing means what, this simple overview might help you navigate through what might otherwise look like a scout’s badge guide.
Perhaps it changes more or maybe it changes back – no one can tell. Based on what we know, here’s what the current Twitter profile badges all mean:
Traditional Blue – This tick means that the account was either verified under Twitter’s previous verification criteria or that the account has an active Twitter Blue subscription.
The Gold Check – Indicates an official business account.
The Gray Check – Indicates that an account represents a government institution or official. Can also denote the account of a multilateral organization.
Twitter even included additional labels for state-affiliated accounts, approved bot profiles (yes, who would’ve thought), and some business category tags. Business accounts will also soon have a square profile picture. Oh, and Twitter’s also rolling out new company logo markers to signify affiliated accounts.
The Wrap
So, from one to three different ticks, a new profile frame, labels, affiliate visuals, and some other extra features. Okay, that’s respectable, nothing revolutionary, but still better than having nothing to justify having a new subscription price tag. While Musk and his vision of a ‘Twitter 2.0’ still have a way to go, at least it has made a decent enough start to build on, which is already saying a lot given how Twitter’s previous management wasn’t able to either come up with the idea or failed to initialize and maintain them. Hopefully, Musk does better.
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