During your time on Twitter, you’ll probably have seen at least one verified account. Yes, similar to Facebook, verified accounts are those with the little blue checkmark symbol. But who are these people? How many are there? A recent report by Triggertrap CEO Haje Jan Kamps give us a good look at them. Aren’t you curious?
Also Read: Twitter Launches Official Partner Program To Boost Brand Engagement
The first thing I found rather surprising is that there are apparently only around 150,000 verified users on Twitter. If you think that there are several hundred million users on Twitter currently, those that are verified are part of a pretty exclusive little club. According to Twitter itself (it’s actually pretty obvious), they are “highly sought users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business and other key interest areas”. Whoever is very famous probably needs to be verified, for security reasons alone. What Haje found in his study though, is that nearly half of the verified users are journalists and sports figures.
Yes, you heard right… In fact, 25% of these users are actually journalists, and another 18% of them are sports figures and teams. As we all know, Twitter is perfect for news-gathering and dissemination, so it’s really no surprise. Have a look at the general make-up in the chart below.
If you like our stories, there is an easy way to stay updated:
Follow @wersm
But, there’s also politicians, various other celebs, musicians, bands, companies, organisations… In general, verified accounts are very active, but don’t necessarily have an enormous amount of followers. And the amount of followers they do have, is directly linked to how famous they are… Simple.
FOLLOWERS
They are certainly heavy Twitter users though, and extremely active. Judging by the fact that musicians and bands are often those accounts with the most followers, it’s also a bit surprising that only 12% of verified accounts come from this category. The number of followers for those in the “music” category is over 1m whereas the “journalists” category the average number of followers is 140k! So, yes… Followers come with fame.
FRIENDS
But what about the amount of accounts they themselves follow. Again, the highest seems to be the music category. Other notable examples are politicians and businesses. No connection to fame. The most verbose accounts belong to media. Again, no surprise here.
If you like our stories, there is an easy way to stay updated:
Follow @wersm
If you’re interested in the subject, head on over to Haje‘s very insightful report on the subject, where you can find a lot more information!
You might also like
More from Twitter
Twitter Acquires Newsletter Service Revue
Twitter is looking to expand into newsletters with the acquisition of Revue, a Dutch newsletter service.
Twitter Announces Birdwatch, A Community-Driven Approach To Misinformation
Twitter has announced a new community-driven way to address misinformation on its platform called Birdwatch.
Twitter Acquires Social Podcast App Breaker
Social podcast app Breaker has announced its acquisition by Twitter and the closure of its app on January 15.
Twitter Will Wipe Out All Followers From The @POTUS Account
Joe Biden will need some new followers, as Twitter announced its plans to wipe out all followers from the @POTUS …
Twitter Is Shutting Down Periscope
Another one bites the dust! Twitter announced that it's shutting down Periscope, but keeping native live video streaming in its …
Twitter Is Bringing Back Its Verification Program In January
After pausing its verification program in 2017, Twitter has now announced that it's bringing it back on January 20, 2021.
#ThisHappened On Twitter In 2020
Twitter has released its year in review report, examining what kept us entertained and the messages we shared. This is …
Twitter Asks Twitter To Summarize 2020 In One Word
Twitter took Twitter by storm by asking users to describe 2020 in one word. The tweet generated over 120,000 replies.