Bluesky, the decentralised social network that’s proved a refuge for people who’d ditched Twitter/X, is adding blue tick verification to noted accounts.
In a blog post over Easter, the Bluesky team revealed its plans to “proactively verify authentic and notable accounts” in an effort to build trust among the user base.
The company is also using Trusted Verifiers to dish out the blue ticks and speed up the process. For example, the New York Times is able to verify its own journalists.
Bluesky is not accepting individual applications for verification at this time. In due time the company is planning to release a request form for those notable accounts.
Until now accounts wishing to verify their accounts have only been able to set their domain as their user name and more than a quarter of a million accounts have done so thus far. Now Bluesky is taking things to the next level with the long-requested blue tick system Twitter ditched in favour of a means of indicating paid subscribers.
“We’ve heard from users that a larger visual signal would be useful in knowing which accounts are authentic,” the post reads.
“Now, we’re introducing a new layer — a user-friendly, easily recognisable blue check. Bluesky will proactively verify authentic and notable accounts and display a blue check next to their names. Additionally, through our Trusted Verifiers feature, select independent organisations can verify accounts directly. Bluesky will review these verifications as well to ensure authenticity.”
Opinion
This has been a long in demand feature for Bluesky users who miss the ability to be able to trust that the person they’re interacting with is who they say they are. For Twitter refugees who use Bluesky for news, this is an important step in the social network’s journey.
