Facebook has just launched a new service that will verify the accounts of celebrities.
With this new feature Facebook will verify the identity of their high profile account holders. Those who wish to have their accounts verified will have to contact Facebook with some form of official identification in order to prove their identity.
Facebook will provide some display name options to the users, once their identity has been verified by them. The users will also have the option of prominently displaying an optional name such as a nickname or a maiden name, if they so desire.
This will make it easier for other users to find and follow the accounts of celebrities such as film stars, journalists, politicians and the like. It will be less likely that they would follow some impostor or another person with the same name.
Facebook competitors Twitter and Google+ already have similar features running, wherein they authenticate the accounts of celebrities that other users may wish to follow. However, the system came under fire a while ago, when Twitter verified a fake account as being that of Wendi Deng, the wife of Rupert Murdoch. Facebook has a far larger user base than Twitter and it will be that much more difficult for them to ensure that they do not make similar errors.
Another advantage of this new feature will be the fact that some celebrities who are better known by their pseudonyms will be able to use their stage name without violating Facebook’s original policy of letting users use only their birth names. For instance, not many people are expected to know who Stefani Germanotta is, but her pseudonym Lady Gaga would be recognised instantly.
