Facebook today announced that Pages and profiles of prominent figures, brands and artists can now be verified. Before now, fake pages were able to draw great numbers of fans while official pages lost out. Similar to Twitter, a blue check mark will now appear next to the name of the page of profile, signifying it"s authentic.
Verified accounts on Twitter have been useful to set apart falsified accounts from official ones, and with Facebook, this use only amplifies. With many more information fields and customisation options, Facebook pages can more easily be faked and thousands of people fall for it.
Fake pages can then be sold on once they"ve generated a substantial audience, an immoral practice that will surely be slowed by the new feature. Users of the world"s largest social network can expect to see the feature straight away and rolled out fully over the next few days and upon request.
Neowin has contacted Facebook to find out more about the verification process for accounts or pages and will update this article if a response is received.