Musk Twitter mayhem continues with short-lived grey checkmark

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2022
Elon Musk planned to let users purchase a blue verified checkmark as part of Twitter Blue, then rolled out a separate label to identify actual verified accounts. Hours later, the revision was rolled back.

The new - old checkmark
The new - old checkmark


One of the changes new owner Elon Musk is implementing at the company is revisions to the Twitter Blue service that offers reduced ads, editing tweets, and other premium features. As part of those changes, Musk also wanted Twitter Blue subscribers to receive the blue "verified" checkmark, whether the company actually verified them or not.

I just killed it

-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk)


But Twitter still wants a way to mark those accounts that did go through verification, even though that's what the blue checkmark was originally for. A second checkmark in gray and an "Official" label would marked these authentic accounts, for a short period of time.

Those second checkmarks appeared on Twitter for certain accounts on Wednesday morning -- but quickly disappeared apparently by Musk's own hand.

"I just killed it," Musk tweeted on Wednesday, following up with, "Blue check will be the great leveler."

Esther Crawford, Twitter's director of product management, confirmed that the company had rolled the label back, at least for now.

The official label is still going out as part of the @TwitterBlue launch -- we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with. What you saw him mention was the fact that we're not focusing on giving individuals the "Official" label right now.

-- Esther Crawford (@esthercrawford)


She said that the company would focus on government and commercial officials, and the "Official" label is still rolling out as part of Twitter Blue. Crawford mentioned that individuals would not receive the new checkmark and label, at least for now.

It's not clear if Crawford and Musk are on the same page regarding the feature.

According to Musk, Twitter users should expect "lots of dumb things in coming months."

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    Future looks bright . Elon doing a great job so far! Never used Twitter so will not shed a tear if killed by Elon :-)
    Alex1NAlex_Vwilliamlondonwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 2 of 15
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,295member
    So I'm confused... how is it possible to both (1) not have actual verification and (2) ban parody accounts? 

    I mean, how do you know which account is the parody and which is real? Maybe this "Elon Musk" fellow doesn't exist at all. Maybe Teslas actually run on gas, SpaceX is just a simulation, and Twitter is actually owned by Big Bird? 
    StrangeDaysAlex1NFileMakerFellerJaiOh81Alex_Vwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 3 of 15
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.
    edited November 2022 williamlondonCluntBaby92watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 15
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    pwrmac said:
    Future looks bright . Elon doing a great job so far! Never used Twitter so will not shed a tear if killed by Elon :-)
    🤣
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 15
    mystigomystigo Posts: 183member
    ireland said:
    Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.
    Yea, but it's a lot easier to destroy things than it is to create them. Taking a sledgehammer to a china cabinet is extraordinarily productive if your goal is to smash things.
    WhiskeyAPPLEciderbonobobwilliamlondonronnlolliverStrangeDaysstevenozAlex1NFileMakerFellerzigzaglens
  • Reply 6 of 15
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,868member
    Smart calling back some of the fired because they were working on important stuff.

    https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/07/twitter_recalls_staff/

    https://www.bloomberg.com/technology


    ronnAlex1NAlex_V
  • Reply 7 of 15
    ireland said:
    Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.
    🤣
    ronnAlex1NJaiOh81Alex_Vjony0
  • Reply 8 of 15
    ronnronn Posts: 653member
    What a maroon!!  :#
    StrangeDaysAlex1NwilliamlondonbonobobJaiOh81Alex_Vwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 9 of 15
    ireland said:
    Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.
    He’s accomplished nothing at Twitter, save create mass confusion over non-verified (purchased) check marks spoofing other accounts, and banning accounts that mock him. That’s it. Zero added value, and arguably lessened value due to non-verified check marks. 
    edited November 2022 Alex1NzigzaglensronnbonobobJaiOh81Alex_Vwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 10 of 15
    stevenoz said:
    ronn said:
    What a maroon!!  :#
    Please look up the meaning of 'maroon,' Ronn.

    Please look up the Bugs Bunny cartoons, Steve.
    JaiOh81jony0
  • Reply 11 of 15
    stevenoz said:
    ronn said:
    What a maroon!!  :#
    Please look up the meaning of 'maroon,' Ronn.

    Please look up the Bugs Bunny cartoons, Steve.
    Well... Bugs must have known...
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 15
    ireland said:
    Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.
    He’s accomplished nothing at Twitter, save create mass confusion over non-verified (purchased) check marks spoofing other accounts, and banning accounts that mock him. That’s it. Zero added value, and arguably lessened value due to non-verified check marks. 
    Don't forget about the damage done to Twitter's relationship with advertisers, meaning he is destroying his big revenue stream.

    Watching those two (Twitter and the Twit) wrap around each other and spin downward into failure is the best show in a long time!
    ronnJaiOh81Alex_Vwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 13 of 15
    blastdoor said:
    So I'm confused... how is it possible to both (1) not have actual verification and (2) ban parody accounts? 
    I mean, how do you know which account is the parody and which is real? Maybe this "Elon Musk" fellow doesn't exist at all. Maybe Teslas actually run on gas, SpaceX is just a simulation, and Twitter is actually owned by Big Bird? 
    I&A (Identification and Authentication) is a very large and complex topic. But I'll try to give a partial answer to your first question. One possibility to solve that problem is to do fuzzy string matching on accounts that you DID do actual verification on. For example, I assume that there's a validated account called "Elon Musk". Then it's easy enough to search for similar strings for each validated Twitter account. Such a search could flag accounts like "Elan Musk", "Elon Mu5k", etc. Once that list of "suspect account" is identified by an algorithm, then a human could investigate to see if it's malicious. There might actually be a real person named Elon Musk who is not trying to pretend he's the rich Elon Musk. That account holder could be allowed to keep his account as is, but he would never be allowed to be a "validated account" because the name is too similar to a famous person with that name.

    I'm not sure how Twitter has chosen to "verify Twitter names" when two famous people have identical names. Here are some names that have more than one famous person attached to them:

    1. Chris Evans
    2. Michael Jordan
    3. Mick Jones
    4. Howard Stern
    5. Mandy Moore
    6. James Stewart
    7. Jason Alexander
    8. Dave Thomas
    9. Roger Taylor
    10. James Taylor
    11. Vanessa Williams
    12. Michael Jackson
    13. Randy Jackson
    14. Bill Murray
    15. Peyton List
    16. Michelle Williams 
    17. Dan Levy
    18. Rebecca Ferguson
    19. Brian Wilson
    20. Adam Scott
    21. Michael Douglas (one of them now goes by the name Michael Keaton, probably to avoid confusion)
    22. Albert Einstein (one of them now goes by the name Albert Brooks, probably to avoid confusion)
    23. David Jones (one of them now goes by the name David Bowie, probably to avoid confusion)
    24. Jane Seymour (one of them died with Henry VIII, so probably doesn't need a Twitter account)
    25. Anne Hathaway (one of them died with William Shakespeare, so probably doesn't need a Twitter account)
    watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 14 of 15
    ronnronn Posts: 653member
    stevenoz said:
    ronn said:
    What a maroon!!  :#
    Please look up the meaning of 'maroon,' Ronn.

    Please look up the Bugs Bunny cartoons, Steve.
    Guess I'm showing my age!  :D
    JaiOh81
  • Reply 15 of 15
    I like how he is A/B testing on the entire cohort. What could go wrong?
    watto_cobra
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