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Re:Twitter caught faking users’ tweets by potatolicious on Wednesday July 24, 2013 @12:20PM (#6097067)
Real harm would be hard to prove, but this is deeply unprofessional on Twitter's part. You could probably make a case for implied endorsement, and maybe even win, but that seems besides the point.

This would be like a Google commercial featuring "blowski, Google User" in one part. There's no real harm to you, and you are a Google user (I assume), but you've been publicized in a massive way that you never consented to. People do not appreciate being thrust into the limelight suddenly and without warning.

This isn't a huge outrage, but it does suggest some process failure on Twitter's part. You never, ever, ever, ever, ever mock up designs with real user data. This looks like what happened here - someone thoughtlessly used the username and profile pic in a mockup, which eventually made its way to PR without verification.

There are some poor processes in Twitter's design department, evidently. Hopefully they'll learn from this. Never mock up designs with real data. Twitter should have a reserve of handles/profiles they actually own for marketing uses.

Re:Twitter caught faking users’ tweets by ampersandy on Wednesday July 24, 2013 @01:07PM (#6097389)
Most feature launches that need a 'scapegoat' use employees' likenesses or profiles. For example:

- the 'Twitter Teacher' who appears in the sign up flow used to work at Twitter;

- and, the profiles used in the verification flow are also employees (http://dashes.com/anil/2013/03/what-its-like-being-verified-...).

I agree that this was unprofessional though and hope the offenders learn from the mistake.

Re:Twitter caught faking users’ tweets by duaneb on Wednesday July 24, 2013 @03:28PM (#6098487)
> deeply unprofessional on Twitter's part.

Agreed, but 'deeply unprofessional' should not imply hysteria. Worst case scenario, someone thinks their friend likes a coffee shop that does not exist.

Re:Twitter caught faking users’ tweets by dllthomas on Wednesday July 24, 2013 @04:28PM (#6098872)
I agree that hysteria would be an inappropriate response.