A verified Twitter account is that blue tick beside your name saying that Twitter believes you are who you claim to be.

Until recently, Twitter doled out the verified badges according to its own whims, usually public figures like celebrities, politicians or big brands. Now, if you have an account that you deem to be of public interest, you can apply to Twitter to have the account verified.

Twitter’s own information says verified accounts usually belong to users involved in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports and business, to name but a few.

To get verified, you have to meet some basic criteria. Your account has to be public, so you can’t be verified and a private account on Twitter. You need to have a bio and profile photograph, along with a header picture on Twitter. You also need to provide a confirmed email address and a phone number and, if it’s an account for a person rather than a brand, your birthday.

Once you have all that information sorted, go to Twitter’s application form at verification.twitter.com and submit your user name. You’ll need to log in to access that page.

The benefits  You might wonder what’s the benefit of a verified tick. There is a bit of a debate about whether it is actually any use, but recent events on Twitter may convince some people that it’s worth it.

Actress Leslie Jones recently left the platform for a short while after she was targetted by racist trolls, one of whom created a fake account in her name. The only way to tell the fake from the real tweets was the lack of a blue verified tick beside her name.

It doesn't always work though. In 2012, Twitter accidentally verified a fake account claiming to be businesswoman Wendi Deng. It only lasted for a short time though, and the account owner also came clean.