This final note today, another entry in the who’s who on Twitter sweepstakes. Celebrities and the president and basically, big names, get a little blue verified check mark on their accounts. A report in Ad Age today says one way to get verified is to spend $15,000 on advetising on the social media site.
I don’t have that kind of money, and so my Twitter account isn’t verified. But I did notice someone else you probably hear a lot on the radio is. So we called him up — Guy Raz, the host of Weekend All Things Considered — and asked him how he did it.
Ryssdal: Hey Guy, how are you?
Guy Raz: How are you?
Ryssdal: I’m all right, but listen: I have a question. So you’ve got like, what, 4,000 Twitter followers?
Raz: Uh, a little bit more than that, but something like that.
Ryssdal: All right.
Raz: Not as good as you.
Ryssdal: Well I was going to say, I have a multiple thereof, and yet I don’t have that little verified checkmark. How’d you get that?
Raz: Well you would think you would have to be really important, right?
Ryssdal: Touche, yes.
Raz: And it turns out that you actually don’t need to be important or that well-known, because I am neither of those things. Yet I have that verified check on my account, right?
Ryssdal: Yeah.
Raz: So the story is, there’s a guy named Eric Kuhn, and he works for the United Talent Agency.
Ryssdal: Wait a minute — are you telling me I need to get an agent? Is that where we’re going here?
Raz: He came by, and he mentioned that we should all have those verified accounts. And literally within a day or so after that, I had that checkmark next to my name.
Ryssdal: I am so calling my agent, as soon as I get one.
Raz: Yeah, you’ve got to call this guy.
Ryssdal: I’ll do that.
Raz: Yeah.
Ryssdal: Thanks man.
Raz: Hey no problem. And by the way, I just want to let you know how many people thank me all the financial news they get from my program.
Ryssdal: That’s right. And they love me on Weekend All Things Considered.
Raz: Thank you so much.
Ryssdal: All right, we’ll see you.
Get it?
Guy. Kai.
Can’t tell you how often that happens.
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