It may have just become a little easier to get the blue check mark on Twitter. 
Twitter announced today it has created an online application process for Twitter accounts to receive verified status. Verified accounts on Twitter allow people to identify key individuals and organizations on Twitter as authentic, and are denoted by a blue badge icon. An account may be verified if it is determined to be of public interest. Typically this includes accounts maintained by public figures and organizations in music, TV, film, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas.
“We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification,” said Tina Bhatnagar, Twitter’s vice president of User Services. “We hope opening up this application process results in more people finding great, high-quality accounts to follow, and for these creators and influencers to connect with a broader audience.”
In the announcement the company said that 187,000 users are currently verified on the platform, which is about .06% of the company’s 310M monthly active users.
The company did previously let users apply for verification, but pulled the feature years ago – probably after being inundated with unworthy applications. Since then verification has been manually done at Twitter’s own discretion, until today.
In order to be verified, users will have to make sure their account has a verified phone number and email address, bio, profile picture, birthday and website.
The company also said they will ask you to tell them why you should be verified, and potentially ask for a government-issued ID to confirm your identity.
The application process will start rolling out today and be available globally this week. People can learn more about the application process in the Twitter Help Center.
