Facebook, the people's app, has created an app for the special people only. It has introduced Mentions, an app downloadable only by public figures or by the administrators of their pages.
Examples of the anointed ones are athletes, musicians, actors, rappers, politicians, people who are famous only for being famous, and other glitterati.
In other words, only real television housewives are accepted.
Importantly, since it also allows celebs to communicate with each other, Kanye West can now interrupt Taylor Swift any time the mood strikes him.
Users of Mentions can track conversations about themselves, post updates, photos and videos, and engage in back-and-forth banter with followers.
It appears Facebook has taken note of the advantage Twitter seems to enjoy with more direct interaction between celebrities and their fans. That's why Mentions interface lifts a lot of the immediacy that the Twitter format offers for direct and instantaneous back-and-forth between the rich and famous and the less so.
Facebook product manager Allison Swope writes on a blog post "Nearly 800 million people are connected to public figures on Facebook, and interacting with ... influencers is an important part of their experience. We're introducing Facebook Mentions, a new Facebook Creative Labs app that makes it easy for public figures to talk with their fans and each other on the go."
She also delineates the qualifications for Mentions.
"Mentions is currently only available for people with verified Pages in the U.S. We plan to roll out to more countries and verified Profiles in the coming months. If you are an admin of a verified Page, you can request access to Mentions directly. If you are a public figure, you can also download the iPhone app to request access," wrote Swope.
From that comment we learn that the app is only available for iOS at this point. We also gleaned that a user needs a verified Page.
What is a verified Page? According to Facebook, "Some well-known public figures and Pages with large followings are verified by Facebook as having an authentic identity. You'll see a blue badge next to a verified profile or Page's name."
Folks who qualify for verified Pages include celebrities, journalists, government officials and popular brands and businesses.
Actually, the concept of verified Pages on Facebook is a good idea. There is much fakery on the site, some malicious, some just an excess of geekdom. There is potential for scamming of both celebrity and fan alike through fake pages posing as the real McCoy.
