OpenID, Jonathan Ross and the Reputation Game on Twitter

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Somebody is going to do a killer presentation at a conference in 2009 in regards to identity on Twitter and what it can teach us about authentication (*).

Why? Because as Twitter has started to ramp up, more and more ‘celebrities’ are using the service. At the same time, more people are pretending to be celebrities and using false names and accounts, which really muddies the water as to who you can trust.

Probably the first major UK name on Twitter was Stephen Fry. A noted technophile (the second Mac ever in the UK was his), he arrived on Twitter, and within a few tweets everyone seemed sure that it really was him with no PR muffle on. But could we be sure?

Once he placed his Twitter stream on his website, we were all pretty convinced (Hmm, using a web page to confirm your identity? That might catch on).

But this isn’t an option available to all. Not every ‘star’ has a website they can use to verify to people, and remember that you still need to trust the website to trust the person on the site saying it is really them.

And then Jonathan Ross arrived

Quietly, with little fanfare, the @wossy account started up. No shouting, no brazen “I’m here,” just someone who wanted to explore Twitter and get to know how it worked and how the people already signed up were using it.

The problem of authenticating Ross arose in the minds of many – not me, because someone I knew vouched that it was Ross. Good enough for me, I thought… and it was also good enough for people who knew me to be confident it was Ross as well.

Once we reached herd authenticity (*) Ross picked up another role (and I suspect a cape to go with it). He became the TCA… Twitter Celeb Authenticator! Witness these tweets, as he unmasks injustice, fake names, the real deal and Old Man Withers from the Haunted Amusement Park:

Just spoke to Alan Carr – he is on Twitter and does it himself, not via a PA or Agent. He is calling me back with his Twitter name later. # (@AlanCarr btw)

Jimmy [Carr]’s account is genuine but he doesn’t do the answering. #

Imposter update. Real Frankie Boyle not on Twitter . Says he might start though. #

Will resume detective work later. Am off to sue The Telegraph. Bye #

This might seem like navel gazing, but providing easy to understand explanations for technologies like OpenID is vital to getting over just how useful they are. I think that Twitter is going to be a great case study given that a huge amount of the quality of the service relies on reputation and authenticity. Anyone care to volunteer?

But it leads to one delightful vision – Jonathan Ross as a practical example of Web 2.0. Nobody tell The Daily Mail.

(*) Oh all right then, if nobody else does it, I’ll give it a go at BarCamp Austin during this year’s SXSW Interactive.

(*) Herd Authenticity. When a sufficient number of people in a crowd agree that someone is who they say they are, then that person is deemed to be authenticated.

Update: And as if by magic, The Guardian have a list of people they think are authentic on Twitter list, with the caveat that it might be their PR staffers doing the writing…