Facebook upgrades security features with Page Verifier

Have you ever had issues with people impersonating
your brand on facebook, well if you are a celebrity or
successful business owner with this problem, guess
your worries over. Facebook has just announced a
new verified feature for pages and profiles, designed
to give high-profile accounts an added level of
authenticity. This is clearly a straightforward copy of
Twitter's own verified accounts, and even features a
similar, small blue checkmark to indicate that a
person or business is indeed the legitimate account
holder. The mark appears on the pages themselves,
as well as in search results and throughout the site.
The Verified Pages are being rolled out to "just a
small group of prominent public figures (celebrities,
journalists, government officials, popular brands and
businesses) with large audiences," Facebook says,
and will soon roll out to profiles as well.
Facebook has a new section in its help center that
describes what a verified profile or page actually is,
but it doesn't say how Facebook goes about verifying
any of its users. The checkmark icon acts as a tooltip,
providing more info about verification when you
hover over with a mouse cursor, and Facebook says
that there's no way for users to request to be
verified; just like on Twitter, the social network will
come to you if they deem it a useful step in helping
you prove your identity.
We've reached out to Facebook to learn more about
the verification process, and will update if the
company sheds any light on what's involved.
Facebook has previously launched a verification
program, back in February 2012, when it allowed
people to verify their account with a valid ID. This
was an extra step that allowed people to then use
nicknames (handy for celebrities with pseudonyms)
and still appear highly in search results. But that
program didn't involve any kind of public badging,
which this one does.
More and more, Facebook is trying to become a
broadcast channel for media, journalists and
celebrities, sort of in the same way that Twitter
already primarily is. The subscription feature it
launched last year to allow people to follow others
and receive their updates without forming a
reciprocal "friendship" is a perfect example of how it
wants to make it possible for people to go to the
social network as a news and information source, as
well as a way to connect with people they actually
know.
Facebook also hired Mashable vet Vadim Lavrusik
back in 2011, who now spearheads efforts to get
journalists to use Facebook as a key publication and
sharing vector for content. A verification badge helps
guarantee that celebrity pages are actually run by
the person (or at least their communications team),
but it also does a lot to help readers confirm the
authenticity of reports purporting to come from
journalistic sources.
The Verified checkmark badge is already live on
Facebook, so if you peruse your favorite celebrity
crushes you should be able to find the blue
checkmark. And if you're really big news, maybe
you've already got one of your own.