I guess I started my first Twitter beef today. The worst part is, I don’t even really know who I am beefing with. It all started out with a simple thought. Twitter has “Verified accounts”.
This is so celebrities can make sure that people know whether they are dealing with the person they think they are. For famous people it actually matters. They want to make sure someone isn’t out there talking shit and ruining their brand. Twitter says they do it to minimize user confusion and identify authentic accounts for “well known users”. Our girl Kim Kardashian is Verified.
She’s got more than 6 Million followers. So it is probably a good thing that you are talking to the real @KimKardashian. You don’t want to end up following @KimKardashain instead. On the other hand, Dave Chappelle is not verified.
And 134,078 people think they are following the famous comedian, but they are really just following some dude who thinks it is funny to run back old Chappelle jokes and try to become famous. At least this dude did it well, @Dave_Chappelle and @_Dave_Chappelle didn’t quite get the job done.
Which brings me back to the Verified Accounts. If you have one of the most notorious asses of modern times, or the comedian who dominated the mid-2000′s, people might pretend to be you. The Verified Account is important. But my question is who is verifying all these people that no one is going to copy. Just like it is hilarious when that dude from your English class grabs that handle @TheREALShawnMiller like anyone is trying to pretend to be him. So that got me thinking, how “well known” does a user have to be to get one of those little blue checks.
Who is the most Un-famous Verified Account in Twitter?
Just like the last pick in the NFL Draft is nicknamed “Mr. Irrelevant“, we are creating the Twitter equivalent. We are going to call it the “Verified Loser” Award. Us Versus Them is on a mission to find the Verified Account with the lowest number of followers. I sent the call out on Twitter yesterday and did a little research. My first nominee was Sam Young,aka @SamYoung4 a Forward on the Memphis Grizzlies.
Verified Account with 5,697 followers. But I guess Sam didn’t like it.
I know Sam thinks I’m a “Hater”, but I just don’t think cats are rolling out too many fake Sam Young accounts just yet. That is the whole point of being Verified isn’t it? Why verify people who aren’t really causing any confusion. What is the standard? Who is in the race to the bottom? He probably would have been fine with picture and a link to his NBA.com page. If he really wants to go hard, he can change his handle to @theREALSamYoung4.
@mro926 did me one better though. He found former WNBA Star @KaraLawson20 with only 4,321 followers. So she is now in the lead. Sam is of the hook for now. Can you find the real Verified Loser? It’s gonna be tough because…well they aren’t going to be that famous. Let’s find out how low the standard can go.
Join in by following us @uvtblog and hitting it with the hashtag #VerifiedLoser.
-Brock