Hey! Stop Tweeting On My Behalf!

Topic chosen: Issue 3: Tweeter, Social Networking, Credibility, Impact on Journalism, Ethical Publishing, Regulations.

In my previous post, a brief introduction about Twitter was brought up. As this 'Twitter Storm' hits the world, many Hollywood celebrities got swept and sign up for their own accounts to join this amazingly fast growing microblogging website. However, how sure are we that the John Mayer or Ashton Kutcher you're following on Twitter are the real celebrities themselves? Often, Twitter users are not aware or not bother to verify that they're following celebrity imposters (Sciretta, 2009).

According to Simon Owens (2009), with thousands and thousands of new Twitter users signing up every day, it is not practical and absurd for Twitter's limited staffs to monitor accounts for imposters. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter thinks its a parody can be a healthy expression if it does not cross into impersonation. However, in my opinion, I don't think celebrity imposters issues should be underestimated. Assuming that someone who's impersonating a celebrity using Twitter and sends out messages to hundreds of thousands of fans or followers, how bad it could affect the celebrity who was being impersonated? Moreover, in the present, newspaper and blogs have already begun to quote people on Twitter (Sciretta, 2009).

Twitter needs to do something about these imposters before things get worst. Peter Sciretta suggests that it is critical for Twitter to create a verification system that would embed a badge on high profile pages to ensure users or followers that the Twitter Celebrity is real. In that way, celebrities can connect with their fans and followers in an appropriate and healthy manner. Apart from that, writers or journalists can also avoid quoting the wrong people and get into any unnecessary legal violations. Besides having Twitter to verify celebrities' Twitter account, fans and followers can also visit celebrities' official website and get the link to their Twitter account.

As everything is happening so quickly in this fast moving new technology world, we are still learning to adapt. As we are learning, we have to be careful and not be fooled easily while surfing the Internet at all times.





References:

Owens, S. (2009). How Celebrity Imposters Hurt Twitter's Credibility. Available: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-celebrity-imposters-hurt-twitters-credibility051.html. Last accessed 12th November 2010.

Sciretta, P. (2009). The Growing Problem of Celebrity Imposters On Twitter. Available: http://www.slashfilm.com/the-growing-problem-of-celebrity-imposters-on-twitter/. Last accessed 12th November 2010.