No man with a good car needs to be justified.
– Hazel Motes in Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood
So the other night the hardhoping staff tried to get our Twitter account verified.
According to Twitter’s Help Center, an account must be “notable and active” to qualify for verification.
The six types of notable accounts we currently verify are:
- Government
- Companies, brands and non-profit organizations
- News organizations and journalists
- Entertainment
- Sports and esports
- Activists, organizers, and other influential individual
The hardworking staff thought we would qualify as a journalist, given our standing as media analyst for NPR’s Here & Now and senior news analyst for Boston’s WBUR. So we submitted our request for verification, which included an appearance on WBUR’s Radio Boston, a BBC News interview, and extensive digital bylines.
Twitter said it could take up to 14 days to authenticate our request.
It actually took 14 hours.
Our guess? The Twits took a look at our 1200 followers, algorithmically decided we weren’t big enough for a blue check, and never bothered with the rest.
Luckily, we have a good car.
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