Ru for real?
Twitter is on fire.
The social media giants all have one thing in common: across all platforms, the ‘verified’ checkmark is accepted as the universal stamp of legitimacy. Whether you agree with the process of its distribution, the checkmark has served a crucial purpose as an indicator of trust. Somewhere, somehow, the powers that be have vetted this account and confirmed it’s the real deal.
Back in my social media consulting days, I’d get weekly calls from a relative on a baking streak, a friend-turned-yogi, an old classmate with a blog – all asking me the same question: if I could help make their profile “official”.
During Instagram’s popularity peak, verification was being collectively pursued by everybody who was remotely more online than average. And part of the reason this worked was that they genuinely were difficult to get. Securing that little badge of honor was the ultimate form of validation that (in the world of Instagram) would make whatever they had to say not only legit but relevant. The check mark was proof that in some way, the account had undergone its vetting and/or identification process successfully.
So – when Elon Musk unveiled a pay-to-play option for securing the lucrative blue check on Twitter, the entire system quickly unraveled. The $8 monthly membership introduced by Twitter was hardly a barrier to entry – and almost immediately – the rite of passage was no longer.
Impersonation parody accounts – all adorned with the blue checkmark – flooded the site. In one day, all the years of establishing trust in its user base were subverted. (I’m not even remotely relevant, and somebody successfully impersonating me online and saying uncouth things would create some seriously bad news bears.)
An Uno Reverse moment
When anyone’s verified; no one is.
Everyone on Twitter has essentially been reverse Pavlov’s Dog’d.
Unfortunately, those who have the most to lose are the ones whose verification status is a way of security – a digital filter that protects them from defamatory claims, misinformation, or just straight-up slander. Read: brands.
A lot of brands have already lost a lot of money. In return, Twitter has lost a lot of ad dollars – and with them, the trust of its audiences who now find themselves gravitating to other platforms as they look for alternatives that won’t keep them guessing.
Finding the fake stuff without the right tools to do so has quickly turned into a hopeless game of whack-a-mole for major corporations, public figures, and brands. Some (Pfizer, General Motors, United Airlines, General Mills) have temporarily paused their advertising on Twitter. Yesterday, Balenciaga announced publicly that they’re ditching the platform entirely.
So how do brands reclaim these community relationships and re-establish trust? Start by making sure you know when somebody’s trying to put words into your mouth.
Good thing we’ve got you covered on that with in-video media monitoring – start on TikTok today and get ready for our roll-out to other platforms in the coming months.