Want a Verified Twitter Account? Now You Can Apply. The new application process is rolling out today and will be available globally by the end of the week.

Dying for a little blue check mark next to your Twitter name? Now it could be easier to get one.

The microblogging service on Tuesday opened up applications for those seeking verified status.

For the uninitiated, verified Twitter accounts -- denoted by a blue badge icon -- are reserved for celebrities and other public figures and organizations like Kim Kardashian, Oprah, Justin Bieber, NASA, the FBI and PCMag. Until now, Twitter has been pretty opaque about how users can get their accounts verified, and there was no way to apply. Today that's changing.

"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," Twitter's Vice President of user services, Tina Bhatnagar, said in a statement. "We hope opening up this application process results in more people finding great, high-quality accounts to follow, and for these creators and influencers to connect with a broader audience."

Twitter first introduced account verification in 2009 -- years before services like Instagram, Facebook and Shazam followed suit. It now has close to 187,000 verified accounts; the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's account at @CDCgov was one of the first verified accounts.

The application process is rolling out today and will be available globally by the end of the week, Twitter said. For more on the application process, including characteristics of verified accounts, check out this page.