Beware of Poser Tweeple

July 20th, 2009

posers If you’ve been on Twitter for any length of time, you’ve probably by now noticed there’s many celebs also enjoying the art of Tweeting. Some use Twitter to promote their current projects, and others use it to simply be social. This is a new trend for sure. A few years ago, mixing, mingling and exchanging 140 characters or less with a well known person online was fairly unheard of. While it’s nice to be able to log on and see what John Cusack is up to, or catch up on the happenings of the day with Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, what isn’t fun is a 12 year old kid thinking she just had the tweeting experience of her life with the Jonas Brothers, (who do NOT have separate accounts), or following about 20 different Twitter accounts ALL claiming to be a particular famous person. Some are downright obviously posers, but others have been, sadly, very effective and believable. Justin Timberlake had I don’t know how many posers in all, but being a fairly social networking type himself (see Robo.to, his SN site), he finally got on Twitter with a “Verified Account“. Twitter recently began offering a verification process, not for all stars but only for those being impersonated on the micro blogging site. This is a good thing.

I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be impersonated but I laughed out loud at a particular tweet of Alyssa Milano who commented on having found somebody posing as her on Twitter (despite her already being an established Twitter user).

A fake me is following me. I wonder how I’m doing this evening. ~ @Alyssa_Milano

Sometimes a verified account doesn’t always stop these apparently very bored people who have way too much time on their hands. Oh definitely not. Miley Cyrus has a verified account, but at any one given time there are at least a dozen if not more “Mileys” trying to suck in the teen masses into believing it’s her “second account”. Even her dad Billy Ray was not immune and had a handful of posers portraying him. Then the confusion really sets in when all these fake people follow other fake people, likely all ONE person unless there’s some “poser posse” out there somewhere. This truly gives new meaning to the term multiple personality disorder. The entire Cyrus family at one point was all being faked. Billy Ray, once told of his poser, got so outraged for the sake of his fans being deceived that he jumped out of bed, snapped a photo, sent to Twitter and immediately had his account verified in order to stop “RealBillyRay”.

See! This is me ! I just snapped this picture. Please block the real billy ray cyrus. It is a fake ! - @BillyRayCyrus

Yes. There is a poser ! Elvis said” Imitation is the highest form of flatery”. But that was before Twitter. This scumbag is a fake!!!!!!!! ~ @BillyRayCyrus

Even though some celebs have made it crystal clear that they don’t use Twitter, it doesn’t seem to stop the posers. For instance, Vanessa Hudgens, impersonated heavily on Twitter, confirmed, along with Zac Efron, that they do NOT use Twitter during an interview on the red carpet of an award show, and on Ellen. A few posers tried to explain it away that they didn’t want too many people knowing about this “private account” (with the celeb’s name and pic splashed all over the page), and a few others simply said she “changed her mind” and DOES tweet now.

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Sometimes the internet can be a wonderful globally “together” place and other times the fact that anyone can hide behind their computer screens beneath the veil of anonymity, really breeds a sense of distrust and asks the wonderful age old question … “WTF???”

So bottom line, while Twitter is clearly addressing the issue and at some point fake tweeps will be a thing of the past, in the meantime, if the account is NOT verified, while this does not at all mean they aren’t the real deal, use caution. Don’t go around bragging to all your coworkers that you just had the most amazing tweet session with Robert Pattinson of Twilight (who, as of this writing, does NOT use Twitter).

If you think you’ve found a poser and want to do something about it, I recommend contacting TweetFakes, and Valebrity, who make it their business to verify and report on who’s real and who isn’t. Be careful yet AGAIN though, as there are some posers out there so hell bent on gaining your belief and trust, they will even create a similar Twitter account that by all appearances looks like it’s there to BEAT the fakes for the sole purpose of “verifying” themselves. Yeah, try wrapping your brain around that one!

Tips

If you’ve found an alleged celeb on Twitter but aren’t sure, Google is your friend. Often times googling the username and adding “Twitter” will reveal details about that account. If it’s a legit account, it may be verified as such by being linked to from the star’s official website. Be careful though, as sometimes these posers will go to the extent of creating “official” MySpace and other accounts so they can appear real.
Just because the Twitter username in question is the exact celeb’s name, doesn’t always mean it’s valid. Example, @VanessaHudgens was previously faked.
While this isn’t an infallible observation, if you run across a supposed celeb on Twitter and they are doing nothing but tweeting about NOT being fake, more times than not, they ARE fake. Often these imposters will threaten fans and followers, in typical Sarah Bernhardt fashion, that they will stop tweeting, cancel the account and leave Twitter forever if they continue to be called fakes. Honestly, it’s not hard to prove who they are, IF they are that person.
When you see two or more versions of the same “celeb” in tweet fights, each accusing the other of being fake and how “outraged” they are that anyone would stoop so low, more than likely … fake. That’s not to say actual celebs aren’t highly angry and probably also fairly creeped out at being impersonated, but most have far more to do with their time than defend themselves being real, and are likely too busy to spend 80 tweets in a war of words with another poser.
As entertaining as watching posers defend their “honor”, or observe 2 or more battle it out, resist joining in. While I don’t understand HOW this feels good for them and in my view it would seem like it would make a loser feel even more LIKE a loser, apparently that’s not the case or there wouldn’t be so many. SO, if it’s attention they crave, the best revenge you can take is giving them none.
Photoshop can be used for evil, though luckily for us, not very many villains on Twitter are yet good enough at it. However, be aware of fake celebs “proving” their authenticity via posting a photo of them holding up a sign with their username allegedly “written” on it. Some celebs have done this but more often than not, the end result belongs on a Photoshop Disasters Hall of Shame. If it looks “off”, it likely IS.
If a “celeb” is on Twitter spamming the hell out of you … yeah, they don’t normally need the extra affiliate bucks!

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Tags: Celebritweet, Twitter

Filled Under: Celeb Tweets, Twitter