Monthly Archives: August 2012

I feel I really have to document what has happened in the last 4 days. To say they have been emotional is an understatement. Those who know me know that I really enjoy and see the value of Twitter. I have made many ‘friends’ there and find it a hugely supportive and helpful network. I have actually met several people that I follow and they are just as lovely in real life. But as with any social network, it doesn’t come without its drawbacks. I have a very trusting nature and really care about people. Now you might think that’s a good thing, right? Well yes, it is most of the time but occasionally that nature is exploited and I have discovered that I am very easily taken in and duped.
At the weekend I was told that a blog I followed last year was fake. I was so shocked that I’d been taken in by it and even donated money to help those people who were stranded far from home with a very ill premature baby and mounting bills. They had also exploited another couple with a genuine story and used their blog to highlight their own ‘dilemma’. This was bad enough but what followed next was devastating.
Another trusted and lovely ‘friend’ had documented her terrible time over the last two years. I won’t go into details because most people reading this know the full story. She called me her twitter mum and I felt honoured to be so. We shared tweets, texts and emails. We travelled with her through births and illnesses, marriages and deaths. Nobody could believe that one family could suffer so much hardship. I sent gifts. I donated to The Meningitis Trust. I tried to always be there through the bad times to console and through the good times to congratulate.
Then Wednesday night brought a flurry of Twitter activity revealing the deception we had all been subjected to. Photographs of someone else’s twins from their blog – that was bad enough – but later in the evening, photos of the alleged wedding a couple of weeks ago. They were indeed someone’s wedding – but not that of the person who drew us in. Even worse, I collected all the tweets on the wedding day, along with some of these photos and made them into an Apple album (which was not cheap!) and posted it to them. This means that I also used someone else’s wedding photos without their consent.
The Twitter community was affected terribly. We had grieved, lit candles and shared some pretty raw emotions and were left with incredulity that someone could do such a thing.
Even now, in my own heart, I am confused about which bits were real (if any) and which were pure fantasy. I’m shocked that anyone could use others’ photos and wonder how these people will react when they find out – as they most certainly will. 
I can’t understand the reason behind this and won’t even try. But I hope I have learned from this. I won’t run away from Twitter because there are so many lovely. genuine people on there. But I will certainly be much more careful about investing any emotion on people I have never met.