Reddit’s Own Verification Markers: What You Need to Know?

While both X and Meta grapple with what verification means, now even Reddit is entering the verification fray.

Reddit is doing so with the new ‘Official’ labels now being displayed on some accounts signifying its confirmed identity. The new ‘Official’ tag will get displayed on profiles that Reddit has communicated with to validate their presence.

Reddit says that starting today, all Redditors will notice a small number of profiles with an “Official” label next to their usernames.

Similar to how Flair appears across a subreddit. This new label is designed to increase transparency. It will also help Redditors, moderators, and communities to quickly identify organizations and trust that these users are who they say they are.

Reddit says the labels are designed to help increase ‘authentic engagement between organizations and users’ by countering impersonation.

So it is a verification under a different name, though Reddit is not charging for the marker, at least not yet.

This is currently only available to a few profiles belonging to organizations with whom we already have existing relationships.

All these profiles are interested in engaging with Redditors and communities on our platform. These profiles will have an Official label next to their username wherever it appears across Reddit.

The marker could make it easier for brands to build their Reddit presence by responding to comments and questions in the app related to their products and niche.

Reddit is increasingly becoming a key destination for product research for extra consumers. Reddit might be providing a way for official brand accounts to interact. It could better guide people on key queries and concerns.

But it is also more commercially aligned than Reddit has been in the past.

The platform has always been a relatively open community, where almost anything goes, but more recently, Reddit is cleaning up its act ahead of a potential IPO at some stage.

Part of that has also included its recent API pricing increase to enhance its business value, which has led to an ongoing user revolt due to the impacts that it’s had on smaller developers and Reddit management’s inflexibility in this respect.

That pushback has now even seen Reddit take control of some communities. It is likely to alienate at least some segment of its users.

But Reddit is still standing firm and weathering the storm. However, updates like this only fuel the fire that concerns Reddit’s increasingly commercial direction.

But verification makes sense. By not selling it and devaluing it, users will doubt it. Commoditizing all the checkmarks will be worth the quick cash the apps will gain from such a process.

But official brand markers could help Reddit improve interactions in the app.

They can also combat cheating by paying more attention to how the platform is used for product research and seeking to trash competitors to gain an unfair advantage.

You can click here to learn more about the updates on Reddit and other social media platforms.