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Aug 21, 2011

Google+’s New "Verified Profiles" Feature: Redundant?

Looks like Google+ is following Twitter's lead on the whole "Verified Account" thing, letting you know for sure if you have the real Kim Kardashian in your circle or not. But, considering their stringent "real names" policy, what's the point?

The new feature gives the network's big names a "verified user" badge next to their name. CNN wrote last month that celebs might have to send a copy of their driver's license to get the new badges. First, it doesn't look like Robin Wauters at TechCrunch did anything of the sort to get his new cred. Second, do you really think Mark Zuckerberg or Bono is sending a copy of his ID to Google? Now, it could also be PR folks and consultants working with Google to get the perks, which is probably more likely.

But the reasoning? My only guess is that this is a grab for popularity on Google's part. A larger, more obvious celebrity presence would bring more people in. And those same celebs could make Google+ seem less like a wasteland to new users. If that's the case, then it's shrewd on Google's part. Shallow, but shrewd.




9 comments:

Dylanthulhu said...

I think it's a good thing that people have to verify, but at the same time I don't see much success from Google+.

Sub Radar (Mike) said...

I hate fake Twitter accounts, so I guess it's a good idea to keep Google+ legit.

Internet Catch Of The Day said...

It's a smart move, especially for people who want to make sure they can be identified from the crowds of fake accounts, but celebrities don't really interest me anyway

Sylar said...

thansk for sharing this with us u.u
nice post

Anonymous said...

cool update. i agree totally

Mugen said...

Google+ was interesting in the beginning but it doesnt seem like it ll last

Unknown said...

I'm still not used to Google+ yet, and until at least half of my friends get on there I'm not too enticed to fully switch from Facebook.

Mai Yang said...

hmmm..I'm gonna update my google+ now =))

Bloggerage said...

g+ is just another social website.. google should give up and be satisfied with the billions of $ they already make per year.