Everyone’s Real Fake On Twitter
How do you know all those tweet-happy celebrities are the real deal? 50 Cent, Christopher Walken, and Britney Spears are just a few of those with questionable Twitter identities.
50 Cent, nee Curtis Jackson III, has hired a Web ghostwriter, Chris Romero, also known as Broadway, to post updates on the message-broadcasting service for him, the New York Times reports.
What we have here is a rapper with a stage name who relies on another guy with an extra moniker to represent his real, authentic self to fans. Is your head spinning yet?
Last week, Keith Olbermann ranted to thousands of MSNBC viewers that Twitter was the “worst person in the world” for allowing an unknown person to “perpetuate a fraud” by impersonating him on the service as “@keitholbermann.” (On Twitter, users address each other with the “@” sign.)
The only problem: It turns out that an MSNBC employee had registered the account on Olbermann’s behalf. Before the account’s owner went private and deleted all of its updates, the @keitholbermann account seemed to be sending updates similar to the official Twitter feed for Olbermann’s show, Countdown. Here’s Olbermann’s rant:
Then there’s the curious case of Twitter’s Christopher Walken, whose fake account has been disavowed by the actor — and yet is as real as it gets. The fakester’s work is reminiscent of Dan Lyons’ Fake Steve Jobs in its zany yet realistic insights into the inner life of a famous person. The clever impersonator, as yet anonymous, recently granted an interview to The Wrap. His explanation of his work as @cwalken:
I simply enjoy writing for voices other than my own. When I post a “cwalken” update I am hoping to write something as I would imagine it spoken by Christoper Walken. The politics, tastes and observations are my own. That is — I am not trying to speak for Christopher Walken. I am simply borrowing his voice and reworking my words in his cadence.
Some people crochet, I do this.
For some, pretending to be a celebrity on Twitter is a hobby. But for others, it’s a business — like the small army of people Britney Spears employs. Until recently, Joseph Nejman was one of them. He’s now dismissive of the practice:
“It’s O.K. to tweet for a brand,” he said, remarking how common it is for companies to have Twitter accounts, “but not O.K. for a celebrity. But the truth is, they are a brand. What they are to the public is not always what they are behind the curtain. If the manager knows that better than the star, then they should do it.”
What Nejman does not mention: Spears’s management operation fired him for incompetence in January, after the Harvard grad posted a clumsy help-wanted ad looking for a ghost Twitterer on his alma mater’s alumni website. (In a major no-no for celebrity help-seekers, Nejman actually named Spears as the client in the ad, a move which Hollywood veterans scoffed at as likely to attract deranged fans instead of real talent.) Now that he’s no longer being paid to pimp out Britney Spears on Twitter, Nejman doesn’t think anyone should!
But in posing as a social-media expert instead of a fired hack, Nejman isn’t doing anything worse than most people on Twitter, celebrity or not. A few are honest about their fakeness, like Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin, who wrote last August of his growing Twitter fixation:
But I will never use social technologies quite as the young use them, because I do not thrill to continuous attention and I value my privacy. Thus, the Jason Pontin who occupies the social space is a constructed persona, designed to be unchallengingly personable, humorous, and thoughtful. I am none of those things very often. The preoccupations of that Jason Pontin are professional: he thinks about emerging technologies all the time. And I never broadcast the substance of my inner life, because I know it would become insubstantial the moment I did.
Wall Street Journal editor Julia Angwin likewise recently figured out the point of Twitter: It is not about living your life with friends in real time. It is about promoting your work to gullible strangers.
That’s the grand irony of Twitter: Even the real people on the service are fake. They are their own simulacra. No one actually lives their life 140 characters at a time. What we do is turn ourselves into works of fiction. Who’s real? Who’s not? Who cares?
50 cent
britney spears
celebritards
chris romero
christopher walken
curtis jackson iii
joseph nejman
keith olbermann
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
This is why I (sometimes) love you Owen. Brilliant.
the fake Christopher Walken bit actually makes me want to subscribe - brilliant !!!
The Boulevard of Broken Queens
..
Wouldn't it be more interesting to live your life than to write about living your life?
The answer, if you're wondering, is no.
..
Kirth
We're all just waiting for a Twittering Elvis to show up.
People want to believe they are part of a celebrity's life. It makes them feel more important. My mother used to call it "big moments in little lives."
EhBologna
I rather like fake Christopher Walken, actually. LOL ;) Sounds exactly like I reckon Chris would, so whatever the case - fake or not - he's a funny bloke and I enjoy his tweets.
Couldn't care less about Britney, to be honest.
Caroline Roberts
I hope this is real:
[twitter.com]
@TheHonJudgeSmails: You just set it up, didn't you?
What about Fake Wes Craven? Surely a staffer was typing those missives urging folks to catch the new Last House on the Left, running contests. I just assume they ALL are fake.
Roger Moore
No one actually lives their life 140 characters at a time.
This is probably the most profound statement I've ever read on Gawker. And on a Friday no less...
Well done.
smecktacular
Is Olbermann speed-balling ether and chasing it with Red Bull?
B-but THE_REAL_SHAQ is the real Shaq, right?
lunalein
@smecktacular: Didn't realize the link to Valleywag.
It is still Friday, isn't it?
smecktacular
@Kirth: What's with the extra real estate formatting?
At least MC Hammer is real. [twitter.com]
I think people do this all the time: gloss the truth, put a spit shine on foibles, flat out lie at reunions ... Twitter, et al are just the tools we now use to help us spread the word -- the pretty, well-chosen, artfully crafted word. Social networking is a high-tech "act as if" mechanism ...
@RoosiDesi: You bet I did!
Nic Cage's is definitely real [www.twitter.com]
He puts CAGE in everything he says, right?
I've said it before I'll say it again- twitter, blogging, facebook- this is the future of socialization. When most of us are practically chained to our computers for 8+ hours a day, our lives are inevitably going to retreat further and further into the digital world. You can either attempt resist it for another 5 years, or just give in. Either way, there isn't much of a choice in the matter.
RhymingName
But everyone's fake real on fake Twitter. [fake-twitter.com]
@optical_allusion: May god bless him.
Once upon a long time ago, I ran something called a BBS, which allowed individual callers to use my home machine for fun and games. I don't know what that was about, but there were games, you could play them, and sometimes there was actual canned dialogue presented to the player! Like, they'd be in a chess match against the machine, and the chat would be, "Hey, good move."
The problem, for me, came when the callers thought those insipid banalities were actually sent by me myself! I was thus considered by my loyal users a vapid bozo.
Pretty soon I did something else with my time.
@EhBologna: And I thought I was the only one who imagined myself in the arms of Mariah Carey on the cover of Tattler while waiting in line at Se Fue.
Incidentally, Full Disclosure: my icon is not my real photo.
@smecktacular: But you begin to do no less, nor no more. You will actually think in those parameters, and adjust to them as you proceed through your day. I'm different now. Ever since I have begun this online business in 1987, my pattern is altered in discrete bytes, like how you adjust to a bass drum behind you, or a menstrual cycle working by your side. If you don't believe it, how come we don't act like the characters in classic movies? Because the scenes were too long for keyboarding thumbs, is why. Let's see you Twitter the `Hows' the hand, Rio?' scene from One-Eyed Jacks.
I wonder whether there is a Lacanian resolution to this. Has Slavoj Zizek spoken out about Twitter yet?
Ground control to Major Tom...nothing but noise added to daily grind.
Goethewritesdrivel
@propertius: I haven't read anything but I will bet money that he will. He loves this stuff. And I love him.
"How do you know all those tweet-happy celebrities are the real deal?"
Does it matter? With Twitter, as anything on the Internet, it's only as good as the person who believes in it.
swagv
Tweets must be in own hand: Stylus/writable screen=Cyberglyphics. Just bought the domain. Call me when you have the $5M.
Suzanne De Cornelia
Twitter just suspended the CWalken account. More info here: [chrysler5thavenue.blogspot.com]
@The Boulevard of Broken Queens:
Fake Christopher Walken is the only use I've gotten out of twitter. Sometimes his updates are hilarious.
Captaffy
@lunalein: If you live in Twitteronia, yes.
twitter.com/therealcamron - I pride myself on connecting with my fans, with Crime Pays comin out May 5th and all my videos droppin it's important to be real with the fans! Killa Cam aka Jaffe Joe aka Spacely Sprockets - CAM'RON 2009!
AsaJobonomic
Well why 'steal' someone's identity? Why not make up a new one and twittter that? I'm proud to say that I am the real Madamemish on Twitter but soo want to be Fifi leBeau - she's probably a texas stripper with an attitude ....
ShantalaDawgg
well... at least Shaq is real... I'll drive to Orlando to touch him and get free tickets.
ConwayAgave
What? Don't be such a ponce. You're no more a "simulacrum" on twitter than you are in any other mode of conversation.
CallieCaepio
I am the most famous kid in Toronto and been on TV a lot and the papers. I am no fake twitterer. Just go to my website at thekidreporterdotcom.
I follow some celebrities but I sure hope they are not fake!
KJkidreports
You inspired me to come out. I was @charlierows for a couple of weeks until Twitter shut down the account with no explanation. Loyal followers flocked to @charlierows and had great discussions (like the need for more women guests) and suggestions for topics and folks to interview. I never said I was Charlie--just acted as a catalyst for the inspiring conversation. It was a very interesting social media project. Thanks @charlierows followers. I miss 'ya. @jankabili
AlvaDesomma
Why is Keith Olbermann wearing a 70s era 3-piece suit?
Olbermann is an idiot who can't cut it as a real news authority. I'm interested in following fake-Christopher Walken for laughs though!
ZukeZuke
Owen - you've completely misunderstood the meaning of Nejman's comments. He's not being "dismissive of the practice", he's actually defending it by pointing out hypocrisy on the part of its critics. The NYT article on this subject got it right - see the 16th paragraph.
It shouldn't have been that hard to infer what he was actually saying from the second part of the statement ("But the truth is, they are a brand").
"simulcra," huh? Pretty good semiotics ref! Now, can you link Umberto Eco with Kevin Bacon's ghost-twitterer in less than 6 degrees?
GiraldoDandradeine
"It is not about living your life with friends in real time. It is about promoting your work to gullible strangers.
...
No one actually lives their life 140 characters at a time."
Both of these statements from the end of the post are total BS. If you're famous, and your updates are public, yes, it's going to be hard to just authentically communicate with your friends. But making your updates public is a choice. Mine are private (and I'm not famous). I _do_ connect with friends (mostly local, some distant) in 140 characters at a time. Very rarely can I not adequately describe what I'm doing in 140 characters.
If I look back through old tweets, I can see exactly what I was doing at virtually any moment for the past year. Not a simulacra by any stretch of the imagination. Again, my tweets are private, as are most people's; there's a whole invisible side of Twitter composed of closed networks of friends that find a whole different level of meaning through the service.