By Eric Rea
Interested in getting celebrity followers? Thanks to the celebrity Twitter hack, that was an absolute possibility not too long ago. A glitch in the Twitter platform was discovered which allowed for any Twitter user to make it look like celebrities were their own fans who followed their feeds. This means that the average Twitter user could have thought up anyone on the social networking site and added them as their followers. This unconventional method stirred up a lot of frustration throughout the whole site – especially because celebrities who had been solicited as followers were really getting the Tweets from the hackers’ accounts.
This discovery is really remarkable considering the size and credibility of Twitter. Unlike many hack jobs on the internet, the celebrity Twitter hack most likely was stumbled upon by accident rather than a strategic programming initiative. In this case, all one had to do to participate in the celebrity Twitter hack was to simply get into their Twitter account and Tweet “accept (fill in the blank)”. For example, if Britney Spears’ Twitter name was BSpears, one would simply have to Tweet “accept BSpears” and it would be done. Britney would literally be added as a follower and receive updates each time the hacker would Tweet something out.
Imagine being able to send out a tweet to some of the most well-known celebrities in the world. One could spread their political views or share stories of inspiration. Even if one was tweeting about their favorite DISH Network television program, it would still be a rush to know that celebrities were getting these tweets.
Alas, this glitch in the system lasted for a total of a few hours before the social networking giant put an end to it. It is not often that situations arise in which one can solicit any celebrity as a follower and keep them updated on what they have to say. Those who participated in this little stunt may have had their fun for a few hours; however, Twitter assures all that they have fixed the glitch for good. It’s interesting to think that even for just a few hours anyone (yourself included) could have invited a celebrity follower to follow their Tweets.
Image courtesy of: http://goodthost.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/twitter-hack-was-dns-redirect/
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