Fake Wendi Deng Twitter Account Not That Funny

On New Year’s Day (a couple of days ago for those of you still shaking off the residual effects of too much grape and grain), Wendi Deng, wife of News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch, decided to ring in the fresh year with another go at this thing called Twitter. This followed the decision of Murdoch himself to stake out a corner of the Twitterscape the previous day, December 31.

It was actually a verified, which is important these days to pan the real thing out from the plethora of celebrity spoof accounts. She proceeded to post fairly mundane details that you would expect from someone getting a feel for Twitter:

Now skip to today, three days later, when the veil was lifted:

Whoops! Jokes on you, Twitter. But also everybody else, as it seems legitimate news organizations fell for the ruse as well.

So how exactly did this happen that Twitter verified an account of a known public person to someone who is not in fact that known public person? Nobody knows just yet, but the BBC asked Twitter about how such a slip-up could occur with their verification process. Twitter responded, “We don’t comment on our verification process but can confirm that the @wendi_deng account was mistakenly verified for a short period of time.” Nice cryptic answer, Twitter. Further adding to the confusion, Mashable reports that News Corporation even told some media outlets that Deng’s account was the real deal. Do we even know who to believe at this point? Nope, but Twitterers taken by the decoy were quick to snark about the fake account:

Interesting, the account for Rupert Murdoch is still listed as a verified account. However he (or his account handler) hasn’t acknowledge the fake Deng account yet. The jokester did finally come clean about the fake account and posted a few acknowledgements today:

So there you have it. The short rise and fall of the fake Wendi Deng Murdoch Twitter account. In memoriam, the fallout from this hoax illuminates two very peculiar facts:

1 – Twitter’s verification process is shoddy and was obviously duped. Expect the verification process to get revamped in the near future, but in the meantime we’re all left to question whether any of those verified accounts are the real thing or not. What would the world do if that Snooki account turned out to be some bored university undergrad spoofing millions? Would the world be less fun? Or more?

2 – Whoever is behind the Wendi Deng Twitter hoax ignored a really basic rule of fake Twitter accounts: be funny! Seriously, take notes from the fake accounts of Gary Busey, Rahm Emanuel, the sun, Drunk Hulk, or even the Bronx Zoo cobra that escaped last year – be funny with that trouble you’re starting. Nothing could be more boring than trying to be normal. Spoof Twitter accounts may very well be a new artform in their very own right and I believe it’s the duty of every fake Twitter account holder to uphold the integrity of this form of expression. Make a mess!

With respect to fact #2, this account failed miserably.