GMANews.TV gets verified by Twitter

GMANews.TV has just recently been granted "Verified Account" status by Twitter, becoming the first online news agency in the Philippines — and one among just a handful worldwide — to gain the distinction. Visiting GMANews.TV's Twitter profile will reveal a "Verified Account" badge on the upper right portion of the page just above the organization's name, location, Web URL, and bio. The badge also appears next to GMANews.TV's username in the Find People section and elsewhere on Twitter.

A closeup of GMANews.TV's Official Twitter Profile, highlighting its "Verified Account" status. (Screencapture taken at 6:00pm on July 14, 2010. - GMANews.TV

Twitter explains that verified accounts help "establish (the) authenticity of well known accounts so users can trust that the accounts they follow are legitimate." "Right now we're only verifying a handful of accounts, including well known accounts at risk of repeated, proven impersonation, and government agencies. We're only able to verify a small number of accounts now, but we're working on verifying more types of accounts in the future," adds the social media giant. Only some 2,600 out of Twitter's 75 million profiles have been verified to date. These verified accounts include influential decision makers such as Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Bill Gates, and Sir Richard Branson; popular celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Conan O'Brien, Lady Gaga, and Tom Cruise; and organizations such as CNN, NASA, and UNICEF. - GMANews.TV