With networking sites and the internet, not only is privacy a main issue but also fraud. It is hard to know what is real, fake or made up information and people on the internet. There are sites that try to minimize this such as Wikipedia, who has editors and employers constantly deleting misleading or false information from the site to make it more of a credible source. The networking site Twitter has had a major growth of popularity the past few months, with citizens and celebrities joining. It is a useful tool for celebrities to get messages to their fans all at once through their status updates, as well as to address recent rumors, and as a promotional tool in boosting their latest tour or TV show. It is also a good way for friends and family to keep up with one another, know what each other is doing, or even to keep up with their favorite show, celebrity gossip and popular culture blogs. But with these advantages also come disadvantages.
How do you know with the internet and networking sites like twitter, if you are talking to the real celebrity or if it is just a fake. With friends it is easy because you wouldn’t think anyone to impersonate or pretend to be your friend; and even if this did happen you can just use any other form of technology to call them up and ask. There is an obsession with twitter and celebrities right now. But with celebrities, because of their popularity, there will always be the question of what if? Is it really them or just a pretender? Now you can have all these ‘fake people’ pretending to be the celebrity or affiliated with them. For instance, to get around this and to prove the legitimacy, shows like Ellen are twittering while live on the air. The other day on her episode, she got her manager to type a twitter message about her being on O Magazine. Often Ellen does this to not only promote her twitter page, but also to allow people to know they are follow the real Ellen. It makes people feel a stronger connection to celebrities like Ellen, allowing them to interact on a personal level. So I used this personally, to find out if I had the real Ellen I was following on twitter or if it was just a fake one. By knowing that this message was typed, I could find to decipher the real from the fake.
The Real: http://twitter.com/TheEllenShow
Fake?: http://twitter.com/EllenLDegeneres
Fake?: http://twitter.com/EllenDeG
Also Ellen Degeneres has created a competition for herself that benefits and provides more exposure for twitter. She is trying to get a million followers on twitter, and more then MC Hammer. Even on her website there are viewers and fans that are commenting saying that they are joining twitter simply for this reason. http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2009/03/get_personal_twitter_messages.php
So is this more a positive networking tool for celebrities to get their messages out to their fans, or is it just another way to start a bunch of rumours by fakes?
I think the problem boils down to anonymity on the internet. Wikipedia would indeed be more credible if editors weren't anonymous, but that may lead to the fear of posting information. The same could be said for Twitter. If Twitter made mandatory that users had to confirm their real identity than it would be more credible, but what would happen to those people who are secretly twittering under a repressive government? They may jeopardize their safety. Is their a greater benefit to be had from the credible information that will arise from identity verification or from the safety of posting dangerous but important information that anonymity enables?
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