Twitter Begins Verifying Celebrity Accounts and One Celebrity Quits for a Different Reason
The Twitter organization has launched a "Verified Account" service in Beta this week. So now, you know that @TheEllenShow is really Ellen DeGeneres and @The_Real_Shaq is really Shaquille O'Neal when you read their tweets. Well sort of. If the Twitter profile says that the account is verified, you will know that the celebrity in question has confirmed that the profile is approved by him or her. The verified badge does not, of course, indicate who is actually writing the tweets, i.e., whether it is the celebrity themselves or a ghost tweeter.
One major celebrity Twitter account is stopping new entry production. Trent Reznor has left Twitter (at least for now). He comments at some length on his social media experience on his blog in an entry entitled, Online communities, etc. His commentary is interesting glimpse at the celebrity or "public figure" experience in the social media era and thus worth a few minutes to read.
So much for the special problems of the famous in a social media driven world.
