The article in the Chicago Tribune about Rham Emanuel's fake Twitter account gave me a good laugh. It was set up by an anonymous source and it perhaps portrays the thoughts Emanuel is actually having in his head.
The fake account (@MayorEmanuel)l has 14,000 more followers than his actual account (@RahmEmanuel).That is no suprise considering the fake account posts much more interesting material.
Yes, it is good to know someone out there has a sense of "humor" you could say, but I wanted to find out more about the Twitter sniper! I found out that Emanuel is asking the poser to identify him/herself and come forward and in return, he agreed to donate $2,500 to $5,000 to the person's favorite charity.
Heck, now I'll consider making a fake account and asking him to donate to my favorite charity....my pocket.
I was glad to read that Rahm thought the posts were funny, although he is not a follower of the page, but this has me concerned....is Emanuel offering the reward for the site to be taken down because it pokes fun at him? Or, is he making such a generous offer to attract voters? Either way, a charity is benefiting so I cannot complain. =)
In all seriousness, this is a perfect example of how easy it is to pose as someone else online. We all know the dangers of that in class so let's be cautious.....if you all plan on claiming fame...be prepared to bribe posers to take down their fake profiles of you!!!
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/elections/rahm-emanuel-reward-offers-fake-twitter-mayoremanuel-20110217
Ashley-- Did you hear that the virtual satirist is...a college professor. No, not me, but some professor of digital journalism at Columbia College.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to me to find out the the Twitter sniper is a professor. At Columbia College nonetheless. Why did the man, Dan Sinker, take so long to uncover himself to the media?
ReplyDeleteNot only did Emanuel present this man with a check, but he now gets to officially meet the mayor-elect. And on top of that causes.com is matching Emanuel's donation.
My co-worker, Jenny, asked me whether the Titter account was "good" or "bad." I said that it could be classified as a downfall for Emanuel since there were obscenity-laced comments along with fictitious series of tweets depicting Rahm's mayoral run. However, Emanuel was a good sport about the page and found its content somewhat comedic. Hopefully Rahm will gain support in his race by choosing to make his donation. I know the charity of Sinker's choice will surely benefit. So, in this case of Twitter fraud, all is well.