How to Get Verified on Twitter

The blue verified badge helps protect your account from scammers who want to impersonate you or your brand/organisation. It’s important for people who are in the public eye, businesses and organisations to apply for verification and get the verified badge so that the public can distinguish between them and fake accounts.

When you get verified on Twitter, you might see an increase in your followers because the Twitter community will trust you more; they will consider you an influencer or authority.

Twitter encourages people working in the government, news organisations, the entertainment industry, athletes, activists and notable content creators to get verified on Twitter.

Here are some samples of verified profiles from different industries:

Twitter’s Criteria to Get Verified

When you apply to get verified on Twitter, they check if your account is authentic, notable and active. We’ll go into detail about what each of these means.

Authentic: Twitter wants you to verify your identity and confirm that you are who you say you are.

You can use either method below for verification.

Provide the link to an official website (such as Forbes) that references you or your organisation and your Twitter handle. The website you mention should also be verified on Twitter.
Verify your Twitter profile with your ID by providing a photo of a valid official government-issued identification document (i.e. Driver’s License or Passport).
If you work for a notable company that has a verified Twitter account, you can provide an official email address. For example, if you are a journalist working for the BBC, you can provide your BBC email.

Notable: Twitter expects your account to be “associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand”.

So how do you prove you are notable? Twitter asks you to submit one of the following.

Legitimate news articles from Twitter Verified news organisations that are about you or reference you or your organization multiple times.
A link to a profile on Google Trends that depicts search history and is linked to the category in which you are applying
A stable Wikipedia article about you or your organization that meets the encyclopedia’s notability standards
Industry-specific references such as a link to an IMDB page for the entertainment industry
Last but not least, the follower or mention count. Your account has to be in the top 0.05% follower or mention count for your geographic location for Twitter to categorise you as a notable account. (Don’t use fake followers as Twitter checks the authenticity of your followers and engagement).

Active: Finally Twitter expects your account to be active in order to get verified.

Make sure you have done the following before you apply for Twitter verification.

Have a profile name and a profile image
Your account should be public and you must have logged into your account in the last 6 months
You must have confirmed your email address and phone number and have agreed to the Twitter Rules. If you were suspended for violating the Twitter Rules in the past 12 months, you might not get verified (unless you appealed and were successful).

Read here what you have to do when your account gets suspended.

How to Get Verified on Twitter

Starting the verification process on Twitter is super easy. Just login to your account and go to Settings and privacy.

Make sure your profile is considered active in Twitter’s terms.
Select Your account, click Account information.
Enter your password and you’ll see “Request Verification”.

On the mobile app, go to Settings and Privacy as well, click Account and then Verification request.

When you click “Request Verification”, a popup will appear telling you more about Twitter verification. Click “Start Now.”
Then select the right category that fits you best.
Provide proof showing that you are “Notable”.
Verify your identity to prove you are “Authentic”.
Click “submit” and wait for Twitter to get back to you.

How Long Does it Take to Get Verified on Twitter?

Twitter says each request is reviewed by a human, so it takes a few weeks to get verified on Twitter. It’s important to only apply for Twitter verification when you qualify for all the criteria to avoid getting rejected.

What to Do If Your Request to Get Verified on Twitter Gets Rejected

You can apply after 30 days from the day you received Twitter’s response.

While there doesn’t seem to be a limit to how many times you can apply, it’s more productive to follow Twitter’s criteria and try to get your name or your organisation’s name out there in the public eye to increase your notability.

While we have you here, if you have a Twitter account with a lot of followers and great content, it’s important to protect your account from getting hacked or getting suspended. At twtData, we can weekly backup your Twitter account, so you never lose your followers or tweets.