Microblogging and social media app Koo is planning to introduce a feature that will allow users to self-verify their profiles as compared to rival Twitter, where users need to go through a thorough process of Twitter Verified, Bloomberg reported.
A verified profile on social media such as Twitter and Instagram -- typically marked by a badge or tick next to the profile name -- gives the user credibility because it means the service has confirmed the authenticity of the person.
Twitter allows verified profiles mostly for celebrities and other influencers and getting one can be difficult and take weeks or months.
Koo, with its self-verification pilot for general users, is hoping to get an edge over Twitter.
Koo, backed by Tiger Global and Accel, said it has streamlined the process by allowing users to self-authenticate. Under the new process, users link their accounts to a unique biometric number from the Indian government’s digital identity database, Aadhaar. They then activate the verification by sending a password to a mobile phone linked to that Aadhaar number. It typically takes just a few minutes.
“Microblogging sites’ biggest bane is automated bots, fake accounts and anonymous trolling," Aprameya Radhakrishna, Koo’s co-founder and chief executive officer, told Bloomberg.
“This voluntary self-verification feature is toward making social media safer and more real," he said.
Koo app has nearly 30 million downloads till now and is available in English and other seven languages including Kannada, Hindi and Bengali. The app is available in 10 Indian languages and a dozen more are being added as more regional users go online. The app is also available in Nigeria, a testing ground for expansion abroad.
Ramakrishna had earlier said the identification tick is something that the company is on the path of making and issuing to the public. "This will allow normal users to say I am a real person."
He said the option will soon be available to all those users who wish to go for it.
Those self-verifying will have green ticks attached to their profiles. The Bangalore-based startup, formally known as Bombinate Technologies Pvt., has a separate yellow tick program for eminent users and cricketers, Bollywood stars and government ministers.
The green ticks will “democratize self-verification" and cut down the lengthy process, Radhakrishna said. They will improve the platform’s authenticity over time and “advertisers will prefer a social network with real people, not bots," he said.
Later this week, in another social media first, Koo plans to release its algorithms to the public. They will give insights into how Koo users get their feed, how it recommends who to follow and how it builds hashtag trends.
