Faking Out The Twittersphere

Just as always on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. You could be, as far as anybody can tell, an Exxon Mobil flack spreading good news in turbulent, record-profit times via Twitter. Who could tell otherwise? Exxon could, and did, disown "Janet" as not one of their official tweeters.

The ExxonMobilCorp's (aka Janet's) 361 followers on Twitter. The person who'd been tweeting for the company and replying to messages on behalf of it was not on Exxon's payroll.

She wasn't a malicious presence. Janet had only nice things to say, tweeting about Exxon's charitable efforts in Africa and Indonesia, cheering on Obama's new openness to off-shore drilling, and announcing support of "McCain's tax break."

Well, duh on that last one. Why would someone fake a big company's Twitter account? Why did people stand in line for "The Dark Knight" or buy scalped tickets when all they had to do was wait until the next day? Sometimes, there is no good reason for anything.

Communications expert
Forrester's