Stop what you are doing if you have a verified account on Twitter! If you don’t have a verified account, well you have stopped so you might as well continue to read this. Twitter has started to change the privacy settings for verified accounts.
One of the main changes made so far deals with the setting which allows to direct message (DM) a verified account. This means that people with such accounts will be able to receive direct messages from people who are following them without having to follow them back. Most of the verified account holders are celebrities. The likes of Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga have over 10 million followers respectively. This means that all of these followers will be able to direct message them whenever they like. Having this setting removed is like having the star’s email address. The PR team will have to filter and delete messages for easier navigation.
That is the negative aspect for the new settings change. Here is the positive one with regards to brand building. From my own personal experience with @BlackBerryHelp, to be able to respond to my query we had to follow each other before they were able to DM me to respond personally. So on that front it will be a great tool. But then there needs to be an option available for the verified account holders so they can choose what settings they would prefer.
This may help brands be more personal especially when it comes to support and queries helping to create successful online communities online.
Read more posts by Tatenda Mutsekwa
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I think that changing the privacy settings so that you are able to DM a brand or a celebrity is ridiculous! Celebrities get spammed 24/7 with absolute nonsense on their twitter feeds that they are unable to control. Their only sanctuary was a DM, where they are able to control who messaged them, that way controlling the quality of information they could personally received. By taking this away you are now subjecting these poor people to 24/7 of spam, weird stalker messages and dodgy photos… I suppose the only person this would help is Andrew Weirner.