Twitter has rolled out Professional Accounts for everyone, globally. According to the platform, it allows businesses, brands, creators, and publishers “to grow and strengthen their presence on Twitter”.
“Professional Accounts will act as a gateway to a wide range of professional tools that are not available to your average Twitter user,” wrote Twitter.
Previously, in order for businesses and creators to be taken a little more seriously on the platform, you’d have to get verified. The blue checkmark you see on plenty of accounts is pretty hard to get as you’d need to have some criteria down before applying for it. You need to either provide news articles that are about you or your organisation, provide a link to your profile on Google Trends, a link to a stable Wikipedia article about you or your organisation, specific references like an IMDB page, or if you are detected to be in the top .05% follower or mention count for your geographic location—amongst other various specifics.
Twitter verification applications are so popular that the platform closes the window to request them quite often… before opening them up again. It’s likely why the platform has globally rolled out the ability for users to turn their accounts to either a business account or creator account without the need to get verified.
Here’s how to change your account if you want to:
- On your Twitter app’s front page (make sure you’ve updated the app), press on your profile picture, and then press “Twitter for Professionals”
- Press “Agree & Continue” to their Professional Account policy
- Choose your category of Professional Account. You can choose from a long list of options, from Entertainment, to Aviation, to Seafood Restaurant
- Choose either a Business or a Creator account. Business best fits brands, retail shops, service providers, and organisations. Creator best fits public figures, artists, and influencers
- Look through what you can do with a Professional Account. Currently, it includes being able to customise your profile a little bit more
- Your profile will now include the type of business/creator that you have chosen in your bio section
To qualify for a Professional Account, you must also make sure that you adhere to these requirements:
- You must not have a history of repeatedly violating the Twitter User Agreement
- You must have a complete profile with an account name, a bio, and a profile picture
- Your authentic identity must be clear on your profile and not feature another person’s identity, brand, or organisation, nor does it use a fake identity intended to deceive others
You’re able to change your account back to a personal one anytime by editing your profile. For now, Professional Accounts don’t offer much besides showing your followers that you are a type of business or creator—but Twitter promises that there will be more perks.
Soon, Professional Accounts will allow users to access other advanced professional tools like Twitter Shopping, and Quick Promote. For example, Twitter’s upcoming Shop Module offers brands, businesses and other retailers the ability to showcase their products to Twitter users directly on the business’ profile.
Apparently, this feature has been out for everyone since October, but not many people might have known about it—including myself. There are, however, some minor concerns I have about Twitter’s feature—it’s extremely easy to change your profile to any kind of business you want. For example, I can change my profile to a Seafood Restaurant without any approval. I don’t think anyone would believe that my little personal Twitter account is the official page for the new Bubba Gump, though—especially as I’m not verified. But apparently, verified accounts can also be pretty unstable.
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