By Hannah Townsend
There seems to be a new Twitter trend on the rise – that of the Twitterati or ‘Phweeters’ (that’s phony tweets to you and me). From A-list celebrities and historical figures to politicians and members of the public, Twitter appears to have created an acceptable platform for non-threatening identity theft, which is catapulting many of the ‘phweeters’ into the media spotlight.
The fact that these types of account have become so popular is somewhat ironic considering the current debates surrounding the not-so-stringent privacy settings of social networking sites such as Facebook.
So, who are these impersonators that are attracting in some cases up to 45,000 followers? One of the most recent spoofs to gain national attention is @CherylKerl, a phonetic Geordie take on the tweets of Cheryl Cole. Only last week was the imposter revealed to be that of 53 year old father-of-two John Duffy, a salesman as far removed from the glamorous life of Cheryl that you could imagine.
Or take the recent tweets of @chilean_miner, aka Stephen Morrison, a receptionist, and Alex Jenkins, a journalist, who decided to tweet from the ‘bottom of the mine’. And lest we forget, @CatBinLady, in which an ex-computer programmer uses the media interpretation of the now infamous cat bin lady as a platform for his comedic one-liners.
Of course, there are those that also border on controversial, such as @dianainheaven, which sees Princess Diana tweet about the afterlife from Heaven’s VIP section. The culprit has faced negativity at the hands of national newspapers and the public, yet still attracts more than 21,000 followers.
Twitter is, without doubt, a fantastic way to communicate, gather information and discover news updates, however it seems to me that this social media platform is fast becoming an acceptable form of adult escapism. Maybe it’s the high unemployment figures or the global economic situation which is pushing adults to revert to the childhood game of ‘make believe’ by living vicariously through their chosen persona. Or perhaps it’s the fact that Twitter bridges the gap between us mere mortals and our idols, or acts as a platform to gain recognition.
Whatever the reasons, with publishing deals resulting off the back of them, it’s just a matter of time before a whole lot more decide to jump on the bandwagon and the lines between fiction and reality are blurred even more...
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