Trevor can’t tell a fake Twitter account from the real thing
October 31st, 2011 at 3:40 pm by David FarrarTrevor Mallard has got all excited. he has blogged a tweet from @NZNational stating (falsely) that the mock town hall meeting in National’s opening address was a real one.
The only problem with Trevor’s “gotcha” expose is that @NZNational is a fake account, probably run by one of his activists.
Now I’ll give Trevor the benefit of the doubt, and assume he didn’t know it was a fake account, rather than the alternative which is he was deliberately setting out to deceive.
But so Trevor doesn’t make himself look foolish in future, here’s some things to look at, to work out a fake account.
- Check their full description on their homepage.
- Look at some of their recent tweets. Do they look like the tweets you would expect from that person or organisation
- Check out how many followers they have. As this one had only 91 followers, pretty obvious it is a fake.
It’s not that hard to work out real and fake accounts. The only time I had difficulty was working out the difference between the parody Catherine Delahunty account and the real one.
UPDATE: I have had it pointed out to me that Mallard in fact knew the account was not rea as he had been told multiple times on Twitterl, so it was a deliberate attempt to deceive. Nice to know Labour’s campaign manager continues high normal high ethical standards. It’s a silly strategy because it means the public and journalists will distrust stuff on Red Alert.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:15 pm
the master strategist at work
Vote:awe inspiring!
quade cooper to nz what trev is to national …
October 31st, 2011 at 4:27 pm
the irony with Labour is that they know the public, in general, like Key but have all sorts of issues with Goff .. and here is the rub, Goff is their star MP .. pity the public don’t know about this sort of thing, only us political tragics
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Does any thinking person trust the sanitised, censored, moderated, one sided, rose tinted, self satisfied view from the echo chamber.
Smug mug- thug slugs pug, tugs, hugs jug, glug.
More exciting watching the snails head back to shelter on a dewy morning in my Brassica patch.
What is the collective noun for a group of retarded frontal lobotomised socialists, just came to me, ‘occupiers’.
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 4:43 pm
That duck is a real nasty piece of work. Lower than shark shit.
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 4:44 pm
“It’s a silly strategy because it means the public and journalists will distrust stuff on Red Alert.”
Whaaat? You mean that some people actually think the crap Trevor writes on Red Blurt is anything but bollocks?
Bwahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 6:34 pm
So Trevor Mallard is deceitful and not above telling fibs for political gain?
Did anything else earth-shattering happen while I was away?
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 6:42 pm
He wouldn’t even be in parliament if it wasn’t for twats who can’t keep putting their hands out for other peoples money.
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 6:48 pm
so it was a deliberate attempt to deceive. Nice to know Labour’s campaign manager continues high normal high ethical standards. It’s a silly strategy because it means the public and journalists will distrust stuff on Red Alert.
That assumes that anyone ever did. Well maybe a few Royal New Zealand Herald ones do.
Vote:October 31st, 2011 at 6:57 pm
LOL, Mallard continues to be a cock. Again and again. Still.
Vote:November 1st, 2011 at 6:42 am
OK, I’ll admit I was initially punked but I twigged when @NZNational sent an abusive, obscenity-laded reply to Russell Brown and others. Perhaps that’s how Mallard rolls, but I’ll be generous and say that says more about him than the anyone actually running an official Twitter feed for Labour.
Vote:November 1st, 2011 at 7:31 am
“It’s a silly strategy because it means the public and journalists will distrust stuff on Red Alert.”
Whereas till now the site has always been held up as the pinnacle of impartial journalism…
Vote:November 1st, 2011 at 9:54 am
Not particularly good deception, he doesn’t say anywhere in the blog it is the National Party saying it and in 4th comment he confirms it is a parody.
Vote:November 1st, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Really, next you will be telling me people didn’t believe state TV political broadcasts from the Soviet Union when it was telling ‘the people’ that Russia was in great financial shape and the US was bankrupt.
Vote: