It’s probably a better use of your $8
The current situation with Twitter verification is a mess. Twitter’s new big boss is Elon Musk, and he came up with a wild plan to give “power to the people” and make verification a Twitter Blue perk, bringing with it a price hike from $5 to $8 per month. This move — which went live this week — implicitly changed the meaning of verification from “I’m an authentic account” to “I have $8 in my wallet,” as nearly any account can now be verified. But it’s one thing to be verified on the world’s best worst (or maybe worst best?) social network — what about being verified in real life? Dbrand’s new product allows you to do just that.
As spotted by MKBHD, Dbrand has released a new sticker pack that allows you to slap blue checks on any item you want. Compared to Musk’s new “verification for all” movement, these have all sorts of benefits. They come in three different sizes: a big sticker, two medium-sized stickers, and five small ones. And unlike Twitter’s checkmark, where you’ll lose it if you stop paying the fee, Dbrand’s solution is just a one-time $8 payment (you know, plus shipping and handling) to verify whatever you want. Verify your phone, verify your PC cases, verify a shoebox — if it exists, you can most certainly slap a sticker on it.
Of course, as you might be able to guess, this is a joke product. Still, it’s probably a better use of your $8 than paying for a blue check on Twitter once a month. A lot of things are, actually. Verification might become more important down the road, as some future Twitter Blue perks include increased visibility in tweet replies and search. But as long as that doesn’t happen, this is essentially a vanity payment that — assuming you aren’t using it to go out in an impersonation-fueled blaze of glory — will most likely get people online to dunk on you.
Twitter’s verification process has never been perfect, but this new implementation is changing its meaning entirely. For now, it’s still one of our favorite social networks — and perhaps the hardest to replicate — but that might change as Elon Musk keeps making wild, overarching changes.
