Today marked a new low in the Twitterverse as we discovered that someone had started a Tanner Friedman Twitter page and was using it to post vindictive and potentially slanderous tweets. These ‘imposter’ tweets ranged from re-writes of actual tweets from Tanner Friedman professionals to assorted news links; all with one obvious purpose—to impinge our reputation.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who is behind this pathetic, desperate, libelous exercise. Crain’s Bill Shea, who covers the world of marketing and media, knows the ins and outs of the local landscape and provided ample speculation. Virtually within minutes of Bill’s blog post, the fake tweets mysteriously disappeared. Interesting.
What drives someone to be so vindictive as to (a) pirate the the name of another organization and (b) use that pirated medium to spread venom and vindictiveness? One can only speculate. At best it is a blatant misuse of an emerging and valuable communications tool. At worst, federal laws may well have been broken. Stay tuned.