Weibo spurs new interest chain: online store sales of Weibo "V" verification, selling more than 3000 pieces in 30 days.

Weibo Information Network reports (original article, please indicate the source for reprinting)

Today, Weibo Information Network takes you to explore a new internet interest chain catalyzed by Weibo.

Let's first open Taobao, search for Weibo celebrities, open a store, and see the screenshot below (the shop name has been processed): Please note the circled area. The services provided by this shop include fan forwarding, Weibo celebrity hall addition, Weibo influencer promotion, and Weibo verified account rental. Of course, it also includes Weibo V certification, which is quite diverse.

In the purchase details of the product, the seller wrote: possibly for safety reasons, the seller encourages anonymous purchases from buyers.

Let's take a look at the opening time of this shop: less than 3 months since opening, but the transaction volume is already considerable! And this shop has also obtained Taobao's "Consumer Protection Agreement".

Demand creates the market, and currently, this demand clearly exists. But as Weibo terminals, do Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, Sohu Weibo, etc., have issues with their celebrity verification review process? Let's look at a report first:

Selling Weibo V Certification for 1500 yuan each

Recently, Weibo has become increasingly popular, and some merchants have started to exploit Weibo. On platforms like Taobao, some merchants claim they can provide real-name authentication for Sina Weibo users, meaning adding a V, for 1500 yuan each. Sina Weibo stated that Weibo services are completely free. Industry insiders believe that behind the paid V certification, there may be economic interests driving it. Private messages offering paid V certification Recently, some Sina Weibo users received private messages claiming to offer paid real-name authentication services, or adding a V. On Taobao, reporters also found a seller operating a Sina Weibo V certification business. In Sina Weibo's service, after real-name authentication, a red letter V will appear after the username. Those who add a V are usually well-known individuals or organizations. After adding a V, attention generally increases, and the number of fans correspondingly grows. Reporters contacted a seller who claimed they could add a V to any Sina Weibo user and guarantee success. The seller said that for each user's V certification, the charge is 1500 yuan, no bargaining allowed. The seller said that they add the V through someone inside Sina Weibo, and recently business has been good, with many transactions completed. According to Sina Weibo's public information, identity verification is conducted for four types of users: well-known performing arts, sports, and literary figures; people with a certain level of fame and influence in a field familiar to the public; well-known enterprises, institutions, media, and their executives; important news parties. Sina confirms that V certification is completely free Yesterday afternoon, Sina's PR department told reporters that Sina Weibo's real-name authentication, or adding a V, is completely free. Sina representatives stated that they have recently noticed that on platforms like Taobao, merchants are selling paid Sina Weibo certification services. Regarding this, Sina representatives stated that Sina Weibo will not charge users fees, and any paid certification behavior is false and deceptive. Moreover, Sina representatives indicated that they have received reports about such situations and will severely crack down on similar behaviors through various channels. Reporters learned that Sina's editors all have the right to suggest Weibo V certification and can make recommendations, but the final review and approval are handled by specialized staff. Staff members indicated that not all suggested V certifications can pass. Reporters learned that the guaranteed success mentioned by Taobao V sellers is impossible to achieve. Industry insiders analyze that there may be profit motives driving it Recently, within less than a year, Weibo has quickly become one of the most user-focused services on the internet, with fierce competition among major portal sites in the Weibo space. A senior editor who has worked at several well-known websites said that Weibo has almost become the most valued business of each website. This industry insider believes that the reason why V certification has a market is actually driven by the interests behind Weibo users. This industry insider analyzed that in the internet world, attracting others' attention can bring economic benefits. He said that through V certification, one can increase the number of followers, achieving the effect of becoming famous in the online world, thus winning more opportunities in real life.

From the reporter's interview in the article, we know that Sina Weibo's celebrity verification ultimately still requires review by specialized Sina personnel. On the official Sina Weibo platform, we also found the detailed rules for celebrity verification: To cut off this interest chain, the key still lies in the hands of Weibo operators themselves. Previously, Twitter's cancellation of celebrity verification was not a bad method.

Currently, the domestic Weibo marketing market is getting hotter, and various Weibo marketing platforms are gradually emerging. Do these Weibo forwarding and Weibo marketing methods need management and supervision, or should they follow certain rules of Weibo networks? Otherwise, some forwarded false information and fraudulent broadcasts will eventually harm the interests of users and Weibo networks themselves. Compared to Baidu's search promotion, Weibo marketing is inexpensive, but if Weibo becomes another Baidu bidding ranking system, the consequences are unimaginable.

Weibo also needs regulation.