Launched in the year 2006 by Jack Dorsey and owned and operated by Twitter Inc., Twitter is now a worldwide phenomenon, with 175 million users that have been registered as of September 14, 2010 (Twitter, 2010). It offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets. Having tweets with a maximum character count of 140, it provide up-to-date information to users, thus creating a real-time information system that connects people worldwide (Twitter, 2010).
Twitter exploded in popularity and even celebrities are caught up with the trend, where they are allowed to be themselves, stay connected with friends, family and interact with their fans. However, there are imposters who create fake social media accounts in celebrities and some of the famous figure’s name such as the Dalai Lama, pro basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and even teen celebrity Miley Cyrus (Owens, 2009). This has caused much confusion, as some of the tweets by the imposters were not true, while some tweets went to the extent of hurting the celebrities’ reputations.
To restore faith in the authenticity of celebrity profiles, Twitter added a Verified Accounts feature to clamp down on celebrity imposters. The move follows a lawsuit by St Louis Cardinals boss Tony La Russa over bogus tweets made in his name, as well as the creation of numerous other counterfeit celebrity profiles (Leyden, 2009).
In my opinion, although this move doesn't stop anyone creating a fake account in the first place, the reputation of celebrities will still be protected. These accounts will incorporate a seal showing that they have been verified as belonging to the person or organisation named, a posting by Stone on the Twitter blog explains.
It can prevent issues such as the case of Sanjeeda Sheikh, an Indian celebrity, who had an imposter create a new account in her name and made contact with Sheikh’s friends and family, using foul language, thus tainting Sheikh’s image (Nair, 2010).
Overall, I think that Twitter is a useful platform as it incorporates social networking with microblogging, giving users the benefit of keeping up with friends and family through their posts – tweets. It is also easily accessible via web or even mobile applications.
Twitter exploded in popularity and even celebrities are caught up with the trend, where they are allowed to be themselves, stay connected with friends, family and interact with their fans. However, there are imposters who create fake social media accounts in celebrities and some of the famous figure’s name such as the Dalai Lama, pro basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and even teen celebrity Miley Cyrus (Owens, 2009). This has caused much confusion, as some of the tweets by the imposters were not true, while some tweets went to the extent of hurting the celebrities’ reputations.
To restore faith in the authenticity of celebrity profiles, Twitter added a Verified Accounts feature to clamp down on celebrity imposters. The move follows a lawsuit by St Louis Cardinals boss Tony La Russa over bogus tweets made in his name, as well as the creation of numerous other counterfeit celebrity profiles (Leyden, 2009).
In my opinion, although this move doesn't stop anyone creating a fake account in the first place, the reputation of celebrities will still be protected. These accounts will incorporate a seal showing that they have been verified as belonging to the person or organisation named, a posting by Stone on the Twitter blog explains.
It can prevent issues such as the case of Sanjeeda Sheikh, an Indian celebrity, who had an imposter create a new account in her name and made contact with Sheikh’s friends and family, using foul language, thus tainting Sheikh’s image (Nair, 2010).
Overall, I think that Twitter is a useful platform as it incorporates social networking with microblogging, giving users the benefit of keeping up with friends and family through their posts – tweets. It is also easily accessible via web or even mobile applications.
References:
Owens, S 2009, 'How Celebrity Imposers Hurt Twitter's Credibility', Media Shift, 20 February, viewed 25 May 2011, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-celebrity-imposters-hurt-twitters-credibility051.html
Nair, R 2010, 'Sanjeeda Sheikh Troubled by an Imposter..', viewed 25 May 2011, http://www.india-forums.com/tellybuzz/wassup/8020-sanjeeda-sheikh-troubled-by-an-imposter.htm
Leyden, J 2009, 'Twitter Fights Celeb Impostors with Verified Account Scheme', The Register, 8 June, viewed 25 May 2011, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/08/trusted_twitter/
Greenberg, A 2009, 'Top Twitter Celebrities', Forbes.com, 29 January, viewed 25 May 2011, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/top-twitters-celebrities-technology-webceleb09_0129_top_twitters.html
Twitter 2010, 'About Twitter: A Few Twitter Facts', viewed 25 May 2011, http://twitter.com/about
Image Source: Boston CS
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