Twitter on Tuesday announced that it is introducing an online application process that will allow all users to get verified "blue tick" accounts.

So far, these blue check marks have been limited to accounts run by organisations in various sectors, celebrities and other public figures on the micro-blogging website. The ticks allowed people to identify whether "an account of public interest is authentic". However, Twitter said it hopes extending this process to all users will allow more people to find "great, high-quality accounts to follow" and "connect with a broader audience."

The application process will be available to users across the world over the course of this week. Twitter's vice president of User Services, Tina Bhatnagar, said, "We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter, so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification."

Currently, there are 1.87 lakh verified accounts on Twitter, which was the first platform to introduce the system for social media profiles in 2009. Among the first accounts to get the blue tick were CDCgov, @KimKardashian, @Oprah, @NASAArmstrong, @MilwaukeePolice, @TonyHawk and @SF311.