There are some really famous people reaching out to fans on-line, but if you just got a notification today that someone famous has added you to some circles what can you do to see if they are who they say they are?
Until recently, there wasn’t much you could do since Google+ has been busy growing and tackling other issues. Now you can start looking for the verified check mark to confirm that the person you’re looking at has been verified by Google+.
This is also very handy for people who have taken on names that may seem ‘fake’ but are legal names. I’m not sure if the artist formerly known as ‘Prince’ has found a way to express his name with traditional characters, but my guess is that he’d be detected as having a ‘fake’ name if he did.
Google even released a video from Google staff member Wen-Ai Yu that explains the new feature a bit more:
She does a great job of introducing the new feature, and some motivations, without going much deeper. Sadly there’s no mention of how to apply for the verification status in the video or the posts I’ve found so far. I’ll be watching for the info on getting verified and will update the blog when I find it.
Wen-Ai Yu did however give us a link to the real Dolly Parton’s Google+ profile. Yeehaw!
SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 11:05 am
