Twitter said it would verify anyone who replied to its tweet, here’s what happened next

Twitter pulled a fast one on all its users by tweeting that it was going to verify anyone who would reply to its tweet. If it sounds too good to be true - it is. Twitter has no plans of verifying everyone and anyone, that defeats the entire purpose of the coveted ‘blue tick’! Twitter was just making use of one of its latest features to show people how it worked - with a prank.

Twitter recently rolled out a feature that allows users to select, and restrict, exactly who all can reply to tweets they post. Currently available to only a small percentage of Twitter users across the globe, this feature lets you keep the conversation on a tweet (the replies) restricted to either the people mentioned in your tweet or the people you follow or anyone across Twitter or no one at all.

Twitter brought this together with its much coveted verification for one epic troll tweet.

IIf you open this tweet on Twitter, you’ll see the content followed by one line - “People they mentioned can reply”.

A ‘blue tick’ on social media is something that everyone wants and/or aspires for. Twitter knows that and @TwitterComms made the best use of that by dangling the offer in front of everyone on the platform to showcase its newest feature.

TwitterComms posted the tweet but restricted the replies to people that have been mentioned in the tweet. Since no one was mentioned in it, no one could reply to it. You’ll notice that the tweet has a whole lot of likes and retweets, but no replies. That WAS the point.

The four settings Twitter has started rolling out for tweets include - Group, Panel, Global and Statement. You can choose either once before you share a tweet. 

If you select Group, people you have mentioned in the tweet and people you follow as well among your followers, or ‘mutuals’ as they are called, can reply to your tweet. The Global option allows anyone across Twitter to reply to your tweet. The Panel option lets only people who are mentioned in the tweet reply and finally, Statement allows you to post a tweet that no one can reply to.

Twitter has brought these features in to restrict bullying, harassment on the platform and allow users to keep their conversations restricted to people and groups they choose. TwitterComms used one of these features to show users how they worked as far as its ‘we will verify anyone’ tweet is concerned. 

However, as you would have noticed, irrespective of what setting you choose for your tweet, everyone across Twitter can still like it and retweet it. They just will not be able to reply to it if you so choose.

And on an aside, Twitter’s verification program is currently on hold, Just in case you were wondering.