The appearance of X’s blue checks and Bluesky verification may differ significantly.
In a webcast on Monday, the quickly expanding social networking firm Bluesky—a Twitter/X substitute founded on open web principles—described how it will handle user account verification differently than other sites like Meta and X. Bluesky envisions a system where numerous verification providers exist to suit the demands of its wider community, while traditional social media has switched to a pay-for-verification model where users pay for the right of having their identity verified by a blue check.
Currently, the only way to verify your account on Bluesky is to adopt a custom domain name, something the company began offering an option last year. That’s how you know that the account @nytimes.com on Bluesky belongs to the real The New York Times publication, for example Bluesky tackles impersonation issues directly, as they arise.
Custom domains, according to Bluesky, might just be a component of the future verification solution.The business is thinking about implementing a paradigm in the future where several verification suppliers operate together.
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber clarified, saying, “We might be a verification provider at some point (and also, no, I’m not sure when).” However, it’s something you’re using one app to get, and there may be other apps and services available as well,” she added. And they can either undertake their own verification or rely on us, the Bluesky crew. Or others could complete their own.
Or, in other words, Bluesky is proposing a verification system where one entity — the company itself, that is — is not in singular control over who gets the “verified” label and who does not.
This is a rethinking of verification compared with how such systems have traditionally worked and how they have more recently evolved. To put it another way, Bluesky is suggesting a verification system in which the corporation itself does not have exclusive authority over who is given the “verified” designation and who is not.In contrast to how such systems have operated historically and more lately, this is a reconsideration of verification.
Over the years, verification on Twitter has proven complicated and problematic. At first, Twitter established a kind of two-tier class structure by verifying certain well-known users while ignoring others who felt they should also be verified.
Elon Musk, the company’s new owner, tried to change this mechanism to make it more democratic by letting anyone pay to confirm their identity. However, this abrupt change did not go as planned, as users purchased verification checks to pretend to be other people on the network, which led to mayhem.
The fact that X still has issues with confirmed bots has diminished the value of a verified check.
In the meantime, Meta adopted Twitter/X’s paid verification system, which primarily helps the platform’s businesses and artists.
In contrast, Bluesky wants to provide the infrastructure that would enable anybody to validate others in accordance with their own guidelines, much like it already permits anyone to create their own feeds, moderation systems, and algorithms.
Others may create verification systems that would screen individuals for other criteria, while Bluesky itself might decide to concentrate on confirming well-known users.
Graber proposed, for instance, that a fan group like the Swifties or a university could confirm users as alumni or community members. These verification providers have two options: they can be selective about who is confirmed, or they can give more extensive services that include verification from a variety of associations.
According to the CEO, the difficulty lies in presenting the end user with various verifications in a way that avoids confusion. The business must choose if other third-party Bluesky apps would have to display these verifications in the same manner as the company’s official client and how they would look—perhaps as badges.
In the long run, Graber said, “We’re trying to design for more applications [and] more services, beyond our own, to operate.”
Join Our Social Media Channels:
WhatsApp: NaijaEyes
Facebook: NaijaEyes
Twitter: NaijaEyes
Instagram: NaijaEyes
TikTok: NaijaEyes
