SAN FRANCISCO - The whole of the Twitterverse fell headlong on Thursday into a wildly satirical post penned by writer Brian Briggs who reported; "Twitter Unveils New Premium Accounts". The spoof was aimed at poking vicious fun at the overnight sensation of Twitter, a company that still lacks an apparent business model after being in business for 3 years. Briggs opened his lampoon with this massive hook;
"Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams today announced part of the company's long-awaited business model: Twitter Premium accounts. Premium accounts will come in four tiers: Sparrow, Dove, Owl and Eagle." Briggs wrote in his post.
Mr. Briggs went on to detail his paid Twitter account model while anxious Twitterers tweeted up a virtual storm, spreading the fake news wide and deep. The idea that users would be able to purchase "an EmbellishTwit add-on for $100/year, which directs tweets to a well-educated offshore employee who will embellish tweets." was a brilliant chunk of satire that left many clamoring to seek out the definition of the word over and over again, crashing the Dictionary.com website for a short time.
"Brian Briggs is like a mix between the Octo Mom and the hairy balls swinging from a Moose," said Twitter user Elam Nikserof, "You wouldn't want to be them, but still you can't stop staring at 'em. I don't mean I like to stare at a Mooses' balls or anything like that."
The ego maniacal Briggs, waxed on about his 'spoof heard around the world' through his own Twitter Dove stream as some lashed back at his story by calling it a hoax. Others emailed the news to friends, unaware that they themselves had been duped. The iPhone Savior sifted through some 160 emails on the subject. Thanks for the tip Werner.
This story reminds me of another wildly popular bit of satire entitled, "Out of A Coma, Into The Apple Store", that had Apple fanatics spinning back in October of 2008. Angry media nerds called that satirical yarn a hoax as well. But Engadget was the first to catch on to the joke. It appears that some people will always want to believe.
It's rumored that Briggs plans to continue writing his scalding brand of tech satire while touring this summer with Cirque du Soleil, playing the role of an endearing clown-dwarf, 'Marcel The Midget Boy.' I will pay money to see that!
This is just too funny.
Posted by: Werner | March 21, 2009 at 01:52 PM
This speaks to the general level of acumen in the Twitter community.
Posted by: Ben Lurkin | March 20, 2009 at 11:07 AM