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Facebook VIPs Get Nicknames

Giving stars a better chance to shine, Facebook this week is expected to begin letting VIPs verify their accounts, and use nicknames.

Sure, Facebook was “built on real names and real identities,” reports TechCrunch. Going forward, however, members with “verified accounts will gain more prominent placement in Facebook’s ‘People To Subscribe To’ suggestions.”

To be clear, “verified accounts are not a departure from Facebook’s policy that users sign up with their real name, as birth names will still be shown on a user’s profile About page,” TechCrunch notes. “Instead it’s a way to ensure people don’t subscribe to the public updates of impostors. It will also arm Facebook for its battle with Twitter to control the interest graph.”

“Twitter launched verified accounts back in 2009, and Google+ launched a similar feature shortly after launch,” Mashable recalls. “However, unlike Twitter’s version of this feature, Facebook won’t display any sort of badge on verified accounts -- a somewhat odd decision.”

Still, as Business Insider writes: “This system is just another way that Facebook is taking potshots at Twitter -- previously, Facebook launched the ‘subscribe’ system, a one-way friending feature that lets people amass followers from a user base much larger than Twitter.” 

“However, as on Twitter, the influx of impostors has become an inconvenience for both Facebook and fans alike. While the program is intended to reduce that problem, fans might be confused by the lack of any indication of account legitimacy,” CNet reports.

Either way, “if celebrities forgo tweeting for public updates and take their followers with them, Twitter could be in trouble,” writes Gizmodo.

“Celebrities who are known by stage names include Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, and 50 Cent,” writes PCWorld. “Under the new system, Lady Gaga will be able to display her name as either ‘Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga)’ or ‘Lady Gaga.’”

 

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