Twitter tiptoes into class system territory with new verified user features

Twitter rolled out a new feature yesterday that allows those with a verified/VIP account to communicate with other verified accounts.

The move is aimed at making sure celebrities and others in the public eye aren’t put off by the excessive noise generated by legions of fans, critics, and news that references their Twitter user name. Unfortunately, it also means that verified accounts hold far more value and access than regular accounts, which pushes the social network into a class system-esque territory.

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The update means those with a Verified Twitter account will now get a mobile alert whenever another verified account follows them. Twitter’s iOS app will also allow verified users to access a feed of updates from only the other verified accounts they follow.

“We hope these two features will help verified users easily connect with each other so we can continue to deliver those only-on-Twitter conversations to users,” Twitter wrote in a blog post.

Twitter originally introduced verified accounts to make sure those in the public eye didn’t have impersonators fooling the masses with fake or parody accounts. They make perfect sense for this purpose, but Twitter also benefited because it helped attract more high-profile personalities to the social network. The new feature update is likely being done for the same reason.