How Do You Get a Blue Tick on Twitter?

Have you spotted a blue tick next to a Twitter profile and wondered what it meant?

The reason is very simple and a very clever concept.

It means that person is exactly who they say they are. And I don't mean that you are you and that I am who I say I am. It applies to those celebrities, and high profile people of our world.

For instance, people have a lot of enjoyment out of making several fake accounts on Twitter pretending to be famous people. If in doubt, the real Madonna or the real Justin Bieber will have a blue tick against their name which clarifies that this is the real twitter account of that person.

In other words, it means that the account is verified.

The verification program is currently closed to the public. This means that you cannot apply, as a general member of the public, to be verified.

For more information, refer to Twitter's FAQs.

Twitter highly recommends that you add a Twitter "Follow" button to your official website as one of the best alternatives to being officially verified.

This way you will get legitimate followers directly from your official website.

You can also add a link back to your official website from your twitter profile.

Just like the recent introduction of hashtags to Facebook, a Twitter concept, so too has been the recent introduction of verified pages.

Facebook, of their own accord, are verifying pages and profiles of celebrities, government officials, high profile people and those with large followings in an effort to crack down on the fake pages that exist.

So how can you apply to be verified on Facebook?