Ewan McGregor’s Fake Twitter

9 03 2009

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor is the latest victim of the Twimposter craze.  Close to 20,000 fans have fallen for the scam  and according to social media celebrity validation site ‘Valebrity’ even Ewan’s motorcycling mate Charley Boorman confirmed that McGregor’s twitter was the real McCoy (though there is no confirmation that this was the real Charley Boorman).  

Not so it seems, this the latest in a long list of bogus celebrity social web presences. Other victims have included Eddie Izzard, Star Trek favourites Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner (although he now tweets for real) and the Oscar winning Kate Winslet.  It is becoming a minefield for both the celebrity PR machines and the fans who are piling into the social social web so that they get closer to the twitterati. 

The fake McGregor, although a clever ruse, will have been an easy spot for any fellow Scot.  On the (also false) MySpace profile linked to the twitter stream Ewan apparently said  “I love motorbikes, my home Scotland, doing charity work for Unicef. Of course my wife and my wee little girls”.  “Wee little”? Oh please what kind of talk is that?


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SlySpace, Fakebook and Twimposters

26 02 2009

The term cybersquatting was coined when websites first became publicy available.  People would buy domain names using company or brand names or the names of celebrities and then try to flog them back at inflated prices.  A similar thing is now happening in social networks but potentially the outcomes are far more damaging.

Individuals are signing up on facebook, twitter and across the web to the identities of celebrities, and sometimes brands too.  It costs them nothing and they are not selling the online persona back to their ‘rightful’ owners they are using them to impersonate.   For many the intentions have been harmless but not for all.  The fake Facebook account for Kate Winslett in which she apparently called her screen rival and fellow Oscar nominee Angelie  Jolie , a “fat-lipped crazy cow” amused Kate apparently but that might not always be the case.  A blog called Valebrity has taken on the task of validating celebrities on line and Jonathan Ross has appointed himself as twitter ‘star’ czar.

The act of impersonating others on twitter is also being used for political ends.  John Ransford the Chief Executive of the Local Government Association has a ‘Twimposter’ who has been actively defaming him for weeks and the leading light of the Labour new media movement Derek Draper has pointed people in the direction of a fake David Cameron.

Companies and brands should be cautious too, with the growth of the social web and the velocity at which content spreads, charlatans of  the social web may be ot there doing real harm to their business.


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Categories : Brands, Facebook, Social Networks, Social Web, Twitter, User Generated Content

Celebrities, Stars and their New PR

5 02 2009

Five months ago I posted a piece called The New Twitterati on PR Media Blog.   It was inspired by my discovery that tennis player Andrew Murray @andy_murray  had started to talk to his fans via Twitter.  This was long before  Stephen Fry @stephenfry  or Johnny-come-lately, Jonathan Ross @wossy had started to eulogise about the microblog fad.  It is clear now that Andy was blazing a trail.  I suggested at the time that we should “stand by for a rush to join the new ‘Twitterati’.  It won’t be long before we have a flood of singers, sporting heroes and stars of the screen, sharing stuff”.   That rush is turning into a deluge.   Stephen Fry is the third most popular person on Twitter and Hollywood couple Demi Moore @mrskutcher  and Ashton Jutcher @aplusk signed up a couple of weeks ago.   Tour de France hero Lance Arrmstrong @lancearmstrong is just outside the top ten most popular and Britney’s entourage fill out the 140 charaters for her…although she claims to do a few herself.    Even legendary crooner and definite non Gen-Y-er Neil Diamond @NeilDiamond is hanging out.

Twitter only really works for those that use it themselves and engage directly.  It works best if it is used as a conversation channel in the way that Fry uses it not simply as a broadcast tool (take note DJ Chris Moyles). 

What is fascinating is that it provides a real route for stars to talk to their fans – direct.  No PR people or journalists in between.  They can do it right there with no advice.   Some will do it brilliantly and use the medium to boost their profile.  Others?  Well…there may be a few egg shells to be delicately traversed and even the odd banana skin.   I can’t wait.


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Categories : PR, Twitter

Celebrity Twitters – Real or Fake?

6 01 2009

Stephen Fry, Andy Murray and Jonathan Ross are amongst the growing band of celebrities on Twitter, but how do we know that it is really them and not just a fan of even a member of their celebrity entourage posting, purely for publicity?

There have been a host of examples of fake Twitterers and bloggers. For over a year a blog ran under the moniker “Fake Steve” or FSJ, a fake Steve Jobs blog that in some months attracted almost a million visitors including the real Steve Jobs and apparently the real Bill Gates too.

The business of revealing a celebrity Twitter as a fake in the title is an established phenomenon (at the time of writing the newly reinstated Twitter search facility revealed over 200 of these).  The bigger issue is the ease with which anyone can register a name and become a twit imposter.  

So how do we tell if the celebrity on Twitter is the real deal?  There are some tests that we can apply:

1 The Authentic Voice.   Does it feel real?  This can be an acid test in itself.  Whilst it might be possible to adopt a persona for a few tweets it is very difficult to sustain over time.  We should trust our instincts (but not rely on them solely).  Whilst some tweets feel like celebrity publicists at work (@BritneySpears admits as much) if you follow @Andy_Murray it doesn’t feel like it could be anyone else.

2. The Official Website. Stephen Fry, who is no slouch when it comes to the social web, fed his Twitter stream to his official web-site.  Voila,  instant validation, so it’s worth checking.

3. The Fourth Estate.  Traditional media channels and established journalists remain vital to news and  communications because they set the bar for accuracy and authority (a subject worthy of much further discussion).  When I openly asked on Twitter if @wossy was the real Jonathan Ross two journalists pointed me in the direction of established news source confirming it.  Check them out.

4. Ask. Put the question on Twitter either directly or to the Twittersphere.  It is the social web after all and you might get the confirmation that you need. 

The social web of its nature creates margins for doubt and error but if you apply these tests you should fairly quickly be able to separate the  glam from the sham.


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Categories : Blogs and blogging, Social Networks, Social Web


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