In my last post, I briefly spoke about some of Twitter's features like the retweet, trending topics and the hashtag. So these are some features that you can use to help you reach a larger audience. But what happens when your twitter account is hacked and the wrong message is sent out to your followers?
According to an article on Mashable.com, Twitter has banned 401 passwords for being "too obvious", as of July 2011.
Twitter's top users (by followers) are Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Brittany Spears, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres. According to the Mashable article, 8 out of the top 10 Twitter users have been hacked. Shakira and Taylor Swift are the only two that haven't.
Famous Twitter Hacks:
NBC News:
On September 10th, 2011, NBC News' Twitter account was hacked and the following message was sent out:
"Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking, more as the story develops."
As it turns out a group calling themselves "The Script Kiddie" decided to take credit for the event. The same group had also tweeted from a hacked @FoxNewsPolitics Twitter account that the President had been assassinated.
Anthony Weiner:
Everyone has probably heard about Sen Anthony Weiner's sex scandal by now. Back in May of this year, Sen Anthony Weiner's Twitter account send out lewd photos of someone's "buldging" underpants. The Senator soon came under harsh treatment by the media. Weiner eventually admitted that he tweeted the picture himself. The Senator later resigned after some embarrassing media coverage.
It looks like Weiner isn't too tech savy.
Brittany Spears:
Two years ago, Brittany Spears' Twitter account was hacked with the following message:
"I give myself to Lucifer everyday for it to arrive as quickly as possible. Glory to Satan."
Ashton Kutcher:
In early March of this year Ashton Kutcher's account was hacked with this message:
"Ashton, you've been Punk'd. This account is not secure. Dude, where's my SSL?"
*This article was written by Matt
Sources:
http://mashable.com/2011/09/26/twitter-account-hacks-infographic/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/anthony-weiner-twitter_n_869008.html
http://mashable.com/2009/11/12/britney-spears-twitter-hijacked/
The account hacking can affect personal reputation and also may cause unnecessary fear among the public. But the problem is how can this hackers be known? The public should be vigilant in using social media.
ReplyDeleteThis is a funny and informative post. I don't think people realize that these social networking sites aren't like their bank account websites, they really aren't that secure. People think that because they have a password, often something simple like a word or a few numbers, that their account is safe, which is not true in today's tech savvy environment.
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