Get Verified on Twitter by Getting a Wikipedia Page for Yourself

In recent days, Twitter has hit the headlines after it was bought by Elon Musk in a deal worth $44B. However, you may want to know how it's verifications works. As of now, having a Wikipedia page comes with lots of benefits, and one of them is getting your Twitter account verified. Back in November 2017, the Twitter verification process for the blue checkmark usually placed next to a name was paused following heavy criticisms regarding Jason Kessler's verification. This saw the verification process put on hold for a long time until they improved the system. Only a few accounts were verified during this period – for political candidates and medical experts.

By 2021 the verification system was back with new policies implemented. One of the notable policies that were introduced is using a Wikipedia page to verify your Twitter account. So, how will a Wikipedia page impact your twitter verification process? Let's see!

How does a Wikipedia page help with Twitter Account Verification?

According to Twitter's new policies, Twitter can now verify six different types of accounts:

·        Government

·        Companies such as Tesla and SpaceX owned by Elon Musk

·        Brands (Such as Nike, Fenti, etc.)

·        Nonprofit organizations; news; entertainment; sports; and activists,

·        Organizers, and

·        Other influential individuals

Twitter use Wikipedia to factor in heavily on this account since a Wikipedia page will help them determine their credibility and other requirements. When it comes to verifying companies' and brands' accounts, for example, they must meet two of these three requirements:

·        Hold a significant presence in public indices, such as Wikipedia.

·        Must satisfy "Twitter Activity" requirements – This is mainly applied to influencers' accounts looking for verification.

·        Must have "Off Twitter Notability," which is mainly affected by things like google trends and a Wikipedia page

Therefore, for a company or brand's account to be verified, they have to be notable and active. This means if you already have a notable brand, you can build a Wikipedia page for it and help boost its notability and boost your chances of Twitter verification.

Twitter, Wikipedia, and the Notability factor

Surprisingly, the term "Notability" is now a common term used by both websites to verify their accounts. Of course, Twitter adopted using notability status lately, but the notability guideline has been hugely utilized by Wikipedia since 2006.

Notability helps determine if a given has received significant coverage from reliable and independent sources. This factor helps determine whether the subject warrants review and approval.  

Wikipedia though focuses on reviewing each page specifically and checking on all sources whether they meet relevant criteria. But when it comes to Twitter accounts, the new policy simply paraphrases this by stating that if the subject has a Wikipedia page, the account may be verified.

This move by Twitter, therefore, stresses the importance of having a Wikipedia page as an influencer, journalist, brand, or company. More so, if you want to get a blue check on your Twitter account.

Impacts of Twitter's reliance on Wikipedia for account verifications

There are positive and negative impacts of using Wikipedia pages to verify Twitter accounts for both Wikipedia editors and Wikipedia itself.

For wiki page creators, some of the positive impacts of this include:

·        It gives Wikipedia editors and their work a kind of authority.

·        It will highlight important roles that Wikipedia editors play, which might see them get employed by people, brands, or companies to help them create a Wikipedia page. This might be against Wikipedia rules, but if a person doesn't have a clue about creating a page that will be approved, then they might as well get an experienced editor.

For Wikipedia as a company, the impacts include:

·        "This move exemplifies the institutionalization of Wikipedia's definition of a 'user' and points to some ideological alignments between Wikipedia and Twitter," as noted by Monika Sengul-Jones, an active Wikipedian and communication and technology studies scholar.

·        Some editors are worried that several people might start using the Wikipedia page as a backdoor to getting verified.

Bottomline

Twitter isn't the only big social media network to rely on Wikipedia to verify information or accounts. Back in 2018, YouTube and Facebook opted for Wikipedia to help them detect fake news by including links to Wikipedia articles. A good example is the flat earth theory YouTube videos; if you look below the videos, you will notice a link to the Flat Earth Wikipedia page, which helps the viewers substantiate the theory's validity.

Overall, Twitter's new policy has shown that Wikipedia will have a huge role to play in verifying their users' accounts. Therefore, having a Wikipedia account is essential as an influential figure or as a brand and company if you want to build and enhance your social media presence. Having a Wikipedia page and verifying your Twitter account will automatically increase your brand's credibility.

So, why wait? Why not get your Wikipedia page created now and improve your notability status? Well, if you want a wiki page created, Get in Touch With Our Experts by filling out a form on the contact page or shoot as an Email.