Now, Facebook to verify celebrity accounts, allow pseudonyms

New York, Feb.17 (ANI): Following the lead of Twitter and Google+, social network site Facebook is verifying the user accounts and allowing for pseudonyms.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the verification and policy change on nicknames won't be available to the general public.

Instead, it said that verified accounts are by invitation only and, for now, those invitations will go to celebrities and to users with a large number of subscribers.

In a statement emailed to The Times on Thursday, Facebook described the move as "a minor update" to its Subscribe feature.

For those who get the invitation and display their pseudonym, their nicknames or stage names, on their Facebook pages, the sign-up process remains the same-you still only can sign up for Facebook using your legal name.

For those who receive the invitation to be verified and get the option to display a pseudonym, nickname or stage name, Facebook will use their legal name to verify the account.

The changes, which were first reported by the news site TechCrunch, are being made in large part to help Facebook's subscription feature grow as the world's largest social network continues to compete with rivals such as Twitter and Google+. (ANI)