But that system, introduced by Twitter back in June 2009, is going away.

The messaging service hasn’t taken down the icons it assigned to certain famous users, which were supposed to tell users they “can trust that a legitimate source is authoring their Tweets.” But in most cases, it is not assigning new badges.

Twitter actually shut down verification at the end of August, but almost no one seems to have noticed. Aside from this ClickZ story,  the only other mention I can find of the change is this vague note on Twitter’s help site, which says the company is going to replace the old system with a new one “that will be better for users.”

One reason Twitter and the famous people who use it have been able to soldier on: Verified accounts haven’t been completely closed–if you’re really, really important, the service may be able to help you out.

“We continue to very selectively verify accounts most at risk for impersonation on a one-off and highly irregular basis,” Twitter PR exec Carolyn Penner writes.

One recent worthy: Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller, who showed up on the service early, way back in 2008, but didn’t start actively using it until this month, when he earned the “verified” badge.

[Image credit: Annie Mole]

Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin did a very smooth--if a tiny bit sweetly awkward--job in her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" last night.

It was a good decision to go low-key and also do a bit of stunt casting by bringing in Mark Wahlberg, who was mocked in an impersonation last week by SNL, and also Alec Baldwin.

The well-known liberal actor did a nice turn pretending to insult Palin, while thinking she was his "30 Rock" co-star Tina Fey, whose many turns at impersonating Palin have become a huge Internet hit.

Palin came on again later in the NBC television comedy show on its "Weekend Update," rocking out to a perfect rap by a very pregnant Amy Poehler.

These two from SNL will surely be the biggest Web video hits this week.

And, goodness gracious, do Palin and Fey really look alike, passing by each other at the end of the opening skit without speaking.

Sometimes politics can be really ugly and sometimes silly--and this time Palin managed to poke fun at herself without being either.

You betcha' she did.

Here's the two videos from last night and also the other three that already aired on SNL:

Opening:

Weekend Update Palin Rap:

VP Debate:

Interview with NBC's Katie Couric:

With Sen. Hillary Clinton:

Last week, BoomTown posted just some of the many, many online video spoofs of Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Gov. Palin, one of the more colorful political figures to pop up in years, is like the gift that keeps on giving to the Web comedy world, which seems to be churning out video after video of impersonations of her.

Here’s the best I have seen so far, by well-known actress Gina Gershon–who actually looks like her–on the most excellent Funny or Die comedy Web site.

And there will doubtless be more to come–apparently, “30 Rock” star Tina Fey (who is Palin’s true doppelgänger) will be doing her own version of Palin at her old stomping grounds of “Saturday Night Live” this week.

Until then, here’s the Funny or Die video (warning–as you can see below, there is a rifle and a bikini, but it actually works):