Rest of the Day: Twitter Now Allows Anyone to Request a Verified Account
Twitter has finally gotten a transparent account verification application process. Verified accounts are usually provided to public figures or organizations and have a blue checkmark to indicate authenticity, but there has never been a clear path to verification. Now anyone can request it.
- All you have to do is fill out a confirmation request form. However, this does not mean that everyone will suddenly have a blue check mark; Twitter says they will only give the badge to accounts that are “identified as being of public interest.” The only real plus – besides the fact that it seems important – is the added option to filter responses from unverified accounts. [Twitter via PR Newswire]
- In other news, Google has a new Arts and Culture app. You can use it to search for specific artworks, insert it into your Google Cardboard viewer for a 360-degree view of famous sites, and even see museum visiting hours if you want to visit in real life. [Google]
- Earlier today, a judge ruled to ban WhatsApp indefinitely in Brazil after the company refused to cooperate with a criminal investigation. WhatsApp says they cannot comply because they do not store encrypted messages sent through the app. However, a few hours later, the Brazilian Supreme Court overturned the ban. [Reuters and AFP]
- Apple is partnering with GlaxoSmithKline on their first clinical study using ResearchKit , Apple’s software platform for using the iPhone in medical research. Patients who use the app will enter their symptoms and perform a wrist exercise that uses the phone’s sensors to track their movement as the research concerns rheumatoid arthritis. [Bloomberg]