Photo: GettyA San Francisco artist who put out a viral call for local homeowners to get their houses “verified” with a Twitter-esque blue check received hundreds of applications — despite, she says, the fact that it was all just a big “dumb” joke.Danielle Baskin, an artist, sculptor and entrepreneur, went viral over the weekend with a tweet that informed influencers and public figures in the Bay Area that they could now get a “verified badge crest” to adorn their homes' facades.The idea stemmed from a thought she’d had after seeing many Victorian-era homes in San Francisco with plaster shields looming over their front doors: what did they mean and where did they come from?After follower Adam Scheuring joked, “This was the blue check before Twitter,” and another, Nicholas Macias, encouraged her to sell those very blue checks, Baskin was in — and within two hours, she’d createdBlueCheckHomes.com, she toldSF Gate.The website walked users through the exhaustive application process necessary to procure a coveted verified badge crest — and nearly 500 people jumped on board, eager to get their hands on one, the artist said.RELATED VIDEO: $1.4 Million Banksy Artwork Self-Destructs Right After Being Auctioned Off"I think it’s so fascinating that it was taken seriously. Three years ago, maybe it would have been a joke. But ideas are so wacky now, and news is so outlandish, that something like this just seems like another awful thing that’s happening in our world," Baskin told SF Gate.She added that several applications came through from fake names likeKim Kardashian, but most others of the batch of 495 believed the process to be real.“I did what I thought was a mediocre Photoshop job … I thought, ‘This is all very clickbait-y.’ All of the copy, I thought, was so obviously satire,” she said.Among those who “qualified” for a blue check were prominent executives, influencers, authors, government officials, athletes, members of professional esports leagues, entertainment bigwigs and “actors with at least five production credits on their iMDB profile.“Those who passed the “assessment” also had to be down with the $3,000 installation fee for the plaster crest, which the website said would include a custom paint job to match their home’s color scheme.Reading the fine print, however, indicated that the scheme, while “somewhere in between real and fake” was not as serious as it presented itself.“For context, I’m an artist who makes random internet jokes that sometimes pokes fun of ‘Let’s turn this into a service’ culture, internet vanity culture, and terrible capitalist ideas,” Baskin wrote. “If you thought this was a full-fledged service, please investigate the things you read on the internet! And if you’re an artist making jokes on the internet, we should consider adding disclaimers like this, because not everyone understands your commentary and will share your jokes as fact.“Baskin told SF Gate that she finds the idea of someone “verifying” themselves to be “meaningless,” and that the entire idea was meant to poke fun at those who take the social media verification process seriously.“I think the idea hit a lot of the boxes that anger people: San Francisco’s housing crisis, homeowners, blue checks, the city having dumb startups,” she said. “That triggered everyone’s assumptions about the city and it hit their version of reality that made it seem believable.“Baskin said she wants to sculpt a verified badge crest for at least one of the many applicants, and that she even plans to have her friends serve as mock board members. She’s also mulled over the idea of sending out rejection letters to applicants who didn’t make the cut.“I will give [the crest] to someone who appreciates the joke and is not afraid of the mobs coming,” she said.
Photo: Getty
A San Francisco artist who put out a viral call for local homeowners to get their houses “verified” with a Twitter-esque blue check received hundreds of applications — despite, she says, the fact that it was all just a big “dumb” joke.Danielle Baskin, an artist, sculptor and entrepreneur, went viral over the weekend with a tweet that informed influencers and public figures in the Bay Area that they could now get a “verified badge crest” to adorn their homes' facades.The idea stemmed from a thought she’d had after seeing many Victorian-era homes in San Francisco with plaster shields looming over their front doors: what did they mean and where did they come from?After follower Adam Scheuring joked, “This was the blue check before Twitter,” and another, Nicholas Macias, encouraged her to sell those very blue checks, Baskin was in — and within two hours, she’d createdBlueCheckHomes.com, she toldSF Gate.The website walked users through the exhaustive application process necessary to procure a coveted verified badge crest — and nearly 500 people jumped on board, eager to get their hands on one, the artist said.RELATED VIDEO: $1.4 Million Banksy Artwork Self-Destructs Right After Being Auctioned Off"I think it’s so fascinating that it was taken seriously. Three years ago, maybe it would have been a joke. But ideas are so wacky now, and news is so outlandish, that something like this just seems like another awful thing that’s happening in our world,” Baskin told SF Gate.She added that several applications came through from fake names likeKim Kardashian, but most others of the batch of 495 believed the process to be real.“I did what I thought was a mediocre Photoshop job … I thought, ‘This is all very clickbait-y.’ All of the copy, I thought, was so obviously satire,” she said.Among those who “qualified” for a blue check were prominent executives, influencers, authors, government officials, athletes, members of professional esports leagues, entertainment bigwigs and “actors with at least five production credits on their iMDB profile.“Those who passed the “assessment” also had to be down with the $3,000 installation fee for the plaster crest, which the website said would include a custom paint job to match their home’s color scheme.Reading the fine print, however, indicated that the scheme, while “somewhere in between real and fake” was not as serious as it presented itself.“For context, I’m an artist who makes random internet jokes that sometimes pokes fun of ‘Let’s turn this into a service’ culture, internet vanity culture, and terrible capitalist ideas,” Baskin wrote. “If you thought this was a full-fledged service, please investigate the things you read on the internet! And if you’re an artist making jokes on the internet, we should consider adding disclaimers like this, because not everyone understands your commentary and will share your jokes as fact.“Baskin told SF Gate that she finds the idea of someone “verifying” themselves to be “meaningless,” and that the entire idea was meant to poke fun at those who take the social media verification process seriously.“I think the idea hit a lot of the boxes that anger people: San Francisco’s housing crisis, homeowners, blue checks, the city having dumb startups,” she said. “That triggered everyone’s assumptions about the city and it hit their version of reality that made it seem believable.“Baskin said she wants to sculpt a verified badge crest for at least one of the many applicants, and that she even plans to have her friends serve as mock board members. She’s also mulled over the idea of sending out rejection letters to applicants who didn’t make the cut.“I will give [the crest] to someone who appreciates the joke and is not afraid of the mobs coming,” she said.
A San Francisco artist who put out a viral call for local homeowners to get their houses “verified” with a Twitter-esque blue check received hundreds of applications — despite, she says, the fact that it was all just a big “dumb” joke.
Danielle Baskin, an artist, sculptor and entrepreneur, went viral over the weekend with a tweet that informed influencers and public figures in the Bay Area that they could now get a “verified badge crest” to adorn their homes' facades.
The idea stemmed from a thought she’d had after seeing many Victorian-era homes in San Francisco with plaster shields looming over their front doors: what did they mean and where did they come from?
After follower Adam Scheuring joked, “This was the blue check before Twitter,” and another, Nicholas Macias, encouraged her to sell those very blue checks, Baskin was in — and within two hours, she’d createdBlueCheckHomes.com, she toldSF Gate.
The website walked users through the exhaustive application process necessary to procure a coveted verified badge crest — and nearly 500 people jumped on board, eager to get their hands on one, the artist said.
RELATED VIDEO: $1.4 Million Banksy Artwork Self-Destructs Right After Being Auctioned Off
“I think it’s so fascinating that it was taken seriously. Three years ago, maybe it would have been a joke. But ideas are so wacky now, and news is so outlandish, that something like this just seems like another awful thing that’s happening in our world,” Baskin told SF Gate.
She added that several applications came through from fake names likeKim Kardashian, but most others of the batch of 495 believed the process to be real.
“I did what I thought was a mediocre Photoshop job … I thought, ‘This is all very clickbait-y.’ All of the copy, I thought, was so obviously satire,” she said.
Among those who “qualified” for a blue check were prominent executives, influencers, authors, government officials, athletes, members of professional esports leagues, entertainment bigwigs and “actors with at least five production credits on their iMDB profile.”
Those who passed the “assessment” also had to be down with the $3,000 installation fee for the plaster crest, which the website said would include a custom paint job to match their home’s color scheme.
Reading the fine print, however, indicated that the scheme, while “somewhere in between real and fake” was not as serious as it presented itself.
“For context, I’m an artist who makes random internet jokes that sometimes pokes fun of ‘Let’s turn this into a service’ culture, internet vanity culture, and terrible capitalist ideas,” Baskin wrote. “If you thought this was a full-fledged service, please investigate the things you read on the internet! And if you’re an artist making jokes on the internet, we should consider adding disclaimers like this, because not everyone understands your commentary and will share your jokes as fact.”
Baskin told SF Gate that she finds the idea of someone “verifying” themselves to be “meaningless,” and that the entire idea was meant to poke fun at those who take the social media verification process seriously.
“I think the idea hit a lot of the boxes that anger people: San Francisco’s housing crisis, homeowners, blue checks, the city having dumb startups,” she said. “That triggered everyone’s assumptions about the city and it hit their version of reality that made it seem believable.”
Baskin said she wants to sculpt a verified badge crest for at least one of the many applicants, and that she even plans to have her friends serve as mock board members. She’s also mulled over the idea of sending out rejection letters to applicants who didn’t make the cut.
“I will give [the crest] to someone who appreciates the joke and is not afraid of the mobs coming,” she said.
source: people.com
