Not all Twitter accounts are created equal. If we’re creating a scale that rated Twitter accounts, verified would be the most desirable.

But out of the millions and millions of Twitter accounts, only about 200,000 are verified. That’s because Twitter has, for much of its history, severely limited who can get a verified account. That’s changed, and so you’re likely to see more and more blue badges, as well as the reassurance that comes with them, they prove you’re authentic. People in politics, film journalism, and more all have verified accounts so it can boost your authority to be in such company. Some people are mainly interested in verified accounts so they can also boost an audience you might not have had access to.

The process to establish a verified Twitter account isn’t that difficult, and it will help you have access to some analytics as well as privacy options that aren’t available otherwise. This graphic explains the steps and the reasoning behind verified Twitter accounts.

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