Everything You Need to Know About Getting Meta Verified.

1. Authenticity

The most obvious benefit of getting Meta Verified is safeguarding your authenticity. Having a blue Meta Verification checkmark next to your Facebook or Instagram profile is now essentially equal to presenting your real-life photo ID. It provides the same level of assurance that you are who you say you are, because obtaining the blue checkmark requires a valid government-issued identification in the first place. Twitter Blue, in contrast, requires two-factor authentication via your mobile phone. If you’ve ever had your phone hacked, stolen, or lost, however, you can see how this is not the most foolproof method. Still, having either of these checkmarks will provide better protection than not – and protecting your brand’s social image is paramount online.

2. Security

Aside from letting users know that your profile is legitimate, Meta Verification also warns off potential hackers from attempting to gain access. The Meta platform boasts robust security features to protect profiles and their rightful owners. Part of this process is software-driven, another comes in the form of human customer service representatives, and the last is in the signup process – namely the ID card verification. Meta proactively checks in on accounts for suspicious activity, and for the fee, is supposed to keep them well protected. With a 288% increase in account takeovers in 2022, greater security measures of any sort is a step in the right direction – and Meta takes a step further than Twitter Blue currently does.

3. Findability

With a Meta Verification badge on your social profile, you gain the benefit of the algorithm’s favor. What does this mean? Look at it like SEO for social media – or social engine optimization if you will. But seriously, just like Google, social platforms want to serve the most relevant and reliable content to their consumers. That means being Meta Verified gets you seen more often by their algorithms. In short – it gives your profile a popularity boost to show up on more feeds, more often. This increased visibility is likely to be the biggest reason most companies will feel compelled to subscribe.

While small businesses and independent creators have the most to gain from all of Meta Verification’s benefits, there is a cost attached to the badge. Meta Verification has a monthly subscription fee of $11.99 for Facebook’s website, and $14.99 (each) for the Facebook and Instagram mobile apps, per account. It is ironic that small businesses have the most to gain, but will find it harder to afford, while larger companies will easily subscribe for the small competitive advantage – if nothing else. Of course, Meta Verified users also gain access to “exclusive stickers” as a unique benefit, which is fun and exclusive, but not exactly a priority feature.

It is worth noting that there has been controversy surrounding the motivations and implications of both Twitter Blue and Meta Verification since early 2022. Social media platforms have been free to use since their inception, and despite the fact that they still are technically “free”, many feel that crucial account features – authenticity, security, and findability – are now attached to a price tag. This will give an advantage to those who can afford the objectively expensive subscription fee, and force those without it to subscribe in order to compete. Many consumers feel as though this is a cash grab from these corporate giants and don’t like the precedent it sets for the future. In their defense, Meta Verification is a way for social media profiles to regain some of their lost ad revenue. Despite the controversy, businesses both small and large have begun subscribing to the service for a chance at competing with others on social media. CNBC predicts that by 2024 there could be over 12 million Meta Verification subscribers.