I still recall how Twitter’s verification system elevated me from peasant to lord, but Elon Musk is determined to break down the distinction
Even now, years later, I get a little flutter of joy thinking about it. I was in my early 20s and working for this newspaper, on the property and gardening section. My self-esteem was at rock bottom.
I woke up one morning and rolled over to check my phone. As usual, the first thing I did, before even finding out why my mother had called me 43 times at 3am, was to open Twitter. There it was, in my notifications, unmistakable. ‘Verified’ followed you.
In that second, I knew how lottery winners must feel, staring at a few words that tell them their life will never be the same. I was verified. I had my tick. I’d had the tap on the shoulder, the quiet word in the hallway. I was chosen.
Twitter always kept to the official line that the Verified badge was just to denote users who were at risk of impersonation. Nobody was fooled. We knew what it meant. Our star shone a little brighter than the others. Our blue bird chirped a little louder. All 140-character (later 280-character) statements are created equal, but some more equal than the others. As I often tell my wife and daughter, it was the best day of my life.