Facebook has started rolling out verified Facebook profiles and pages for celebrities, brands and even journalists. Now when you see a blue check mark beside a Facebook name or page, it indicates that Facebook has verified the authenticity of the page or profile that it belongs to the real person, which the Facebook profile or brand claims to be.
Fans of celebrities or popular brands often create multiple pages and profiles representing them, but it confuses fans who wish to interact with the official or real person. To avoid this confusion many social media sites allow you to get verified Twitter profiles and verified Google+ pages and put a tick beside the verified persons or brands.
Facebook Verified Profiles
Its good that Facebook introduced verified profiles, as impersonation and fake Facebook profiles are rampant. Though I am sure Facebook does make efforts to remove these fake profiles, especially after peoplereport them, still a simple search on Google does reveal multiple fan pages and even personal profile for celebrities.
While I feel celebrities will be happy to see more fan pages devoted to them, they would also like to interact with fans on their official pages, and not let them be misled by wrong news, indecent discussions or inappropriate photos posted there.
Which Profiles get the blue badge? Facebook says currently they are distributing blue tick badges to celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands and businesses.
How do people get the verified badges? Facebook checks authenticity that the page represents the actual popular brand or notable person and decides to give the verified badge.
How can you apply for a verified Facebook Profile? There is currently no way to apply to Facebook to get a verified profile.