Twitter has issued a reminder that its updated verification policy will come into effect this Friday – which also means that all currently verified profiles that don’t comply with the new requirements are at risk of losing their vaunted blue tick.

Twitter announced its updated verification policy, and the re-opening of public applications for profile verification, last month, igniting that spark of hope that you too may be able to get your own checkmark of Twitter credibility.

But then again, probably not. Within its revised verification guidelines, Twitter has set some pretty hefty requirements that profiles will need to meet in order to qualify for consideration. 

To begin with, your account needs to fall into one of these six categories:

1. Government
2. Companies, Brands and Organizations
3. News Organizations and Journalists
4. Entertainment
5. Sports and Gaming
6. Activists, Organizers, and Other Influential Individuals

So, for most regular users who think they deserve recognition, they’d likely fall into section 6, as ‘influential’ people within their own Twitter circles.

If that’s you, you’ll need to also meet these additional parameters (at least one from Column A and one from Column B):

Pretty steep hill to climb there for most regular folk – but then again, verification is not designed for your regular profile, it’s meant to signify people of note. Twitter will be hoping that these additional factors will deter many unworthy applicants from even putting their application forward.

But they probably won’t. Given the enthusiasm around profile verification as a mark of authenticity or status, no doubt a heap of people will apply who don’t fit the criteria, leaving Twitter’s admin team with a heap of rejections to process. And that’s in addition to contacting current verified account holders in an effort to clean-up those who shouldn’t have the checkmark.

Which comes back to the key issue with Twitter’s now botched verification framework. While the new requirements are much clearer, and make a lot more sense – with a specific focus on what verification actually means on the platform – the problem remains that many users who already have the tick next to their name shouldn’t have it under these updated parameters.

Which means that there’ll still be a level of confusion over what the blue ticks actually mean. Which is what Twitter is trying to fix. Essentially, Twitter can’t fix that unless it revokes every checkmark and re-applies each, case-by-case. Which Twitter likely can’t do – though it is at least trying to clean up and address the previously created confusion.

In the end, however, Twitter’s probably just setting itself up for a lot more admin in assessing applications. And while it’s good to have verification re-opened, most users probably don’t really care.

Seems like a lot of potential headaches for a solution that doesn’t really solve the key problems. But Twitter’s going with it.

It’s even using the latest memes to promote the change.

So there’s that.

If you have a verified account, it’s worth checking to ensure you meet the updated requirements.