Google+ courts celebrity users Verified accounts on the cards

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Google+ - hoping that celebs will draw in the punters

Google has plans to lure celebrity users to its infant social network, Google+, according to emails seen by CNN.

Google+ is all well and good, but it's somewhat lacking in the celebrity user department, with just a handful of early celeb adopters getting in on the circular act.

All that could be about to change with the implementation of Google's "celebrity acquisition plan", though, with a validation process akin to Twitter's 'verified accounts' in the works.

According to Brett Schulte, a Hollywood consultant who says he has spoken with Google about the matter, "They seemed to be very interested in having celebrities."

Fax? What is this, 1998?

He added that the company may verify accounts by asking celebrities to fax a copy of their driving licences directly to Google, which seems a bit labour intensive, not to mention intrusive, on the celebrities' part.

More likely than not, it will be done through agents who would approach Google for verification, rather than vice versa.

The presence of celebrities is a big selling point for Twitter, which boasts President Obama, Lady Gaga and Rihanna among its stellar line-up of well-known tweeters.