Twitter usage by public figures includes the posting and content-sharing by celebrity and politician users on Twitter. This particular use of Twitter has become an important factor for both Twitter itself and for the celebrity users. As with many other social networking websites, usage by public figures attracts more people to Twitter, thereby increasing opportunities for advertising. Twitter has provided two facilities to its high-profile users. The first is the . Secondly, Twitter attempts to work with celebrity and media public relations staff to encourage them to make use of Twitter in their advertising and publicity campaigns, encouraging them to use Twitter in their promotional campaigns, and providing support and analysis services to determine what worked, what created "buzz," and what did not. Twitter verification Introduced in June 2009, the Twitter verification system provides the site's readers with a means to distinguish genuine account holders from impostors or parodies. A symbol displayed against the account name indicates that Twitter has taken steps to ensure that the account has the approval of the person whom it is claimed to be or represent. However, the public signup page for obtaining a verified account was discontinued in 2010. Twitter explained that the volume of requests for verified accounts had exceeded its ability to cope; rather, nowadays, Twitter determines on its own whom to approach about verified accounts, limiting verification to "highly sought after users," "business partners," and "individuals at high risk of impersonation." Business partners include those who advertise using Twitter, although it is not clearly spelled out in the material that Twitter provides to its business partners when and whether they might qualify for having verified account status. General celebrity usage Twitter can be used by celebrities, athletes, and other famous people for their own self-promotion. However, many celebrities either only partially maintain their accounts or do not actually maintain their own accounts at all. Rather, the accounts are maintained (or co-maintained) by their publicists. In a growing world of technology, many celebrities feel obligated to have their own accounts, and use it to engage with fans. However, for celebrity users, Twitter has proven to be a double-edged sword: in addition to the laudatory comments from fans, celebrities may receive hostile attacks from anonymous people; thus, fan goodwill and even career opportunities can be lost through tweets. The most popular United Kingdom celebrities on Twitter come from television with people like Stephen