Now The Financial Brand gives us an update:
“About a year ago, Twitter opened its verification process to everyone, but by late 2010 the public program had been abruptly and mysteriously axed. And yet recently, in the month of February, both Charlie Sheen and Howard Stern got their accounts verified within days of joining Twitter — even Stern’s limo driver bears the badge.”
“The Financial Brand culled through the list of Twitter’s 7,557 verified accounts and found among them a total of 26 banks and one credit union.”
Twitter does suggest a work-around for still-unverified firms, suggesting that their Twitter home page be linked back to their parent Web site, and that the Web site should then contain links back to legitimate, authorized Twitter IDs. That certainly seems like the hard way for financial firms, and the absence of “Verified” badges on some Twitter accounts will unsettle customers.