Since 10 a.m. this morning, almost 30,000 Twitter users have jumped on the @BPGlobalPR bandwagon, giving the comical feed almost nine times the users that the real BP Twitter account, @BP_America, has. Personally, I saw the fake Twitter for the first time this morning on The Daily What. I can only imagine the other arenas in which @BPGlobalPR's link has been spread.
The @BPGlobalPR account has been live since May 19, barely a week. Since that time, it has accrued over 46,000 followers and has been listed 1,200 times. These are impressive numbers for a humor feed. My surprise is that BP has let this go on for a week.
Yes, it's fairly apparent that the account is a fake. But the bio reads, "This page exists to get BP's message and mission statement out into the twitterverse!" The name of the page is "BP Public Relations." The logo and fonts associated with BP have been modified but are still recognizable. The damage that this account could help bestow upon BP's already critical situation is massive. Yet BP has taken no action. Why not?
Well, it seems that BP's PR team has something more important to worry about: the oil spill.
Rather than fighting the internet bully, they're focused on distributing information to the public. This fake account is one element of the crisis that the PR team is letting slide, and for good reason: the bogus BP's aim, to sell "BP Cares" t-shirts, benefits the gulf through clean-up funds; buzz has drawn more traffic to BP's own Twitter feed, adding almost 400 followers in just under an hour. This fake account may actually be helping BP's reputation in the long run.
This makes me wonder if other companies in crisis have handled fake Twitter accounts in a similar manner, or have they spent time and energy in putting the faker in his place? Does anyone know of any examples?
No, I can't really think of any examples but this is a great scoop. Thanks for sharing.
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