by J. Butler, Applecore Content Development Specialist
Word leaked yesterday that Twitter, long trying to construct a workable business model, had finally developed premium accounts for their most devoted followers. The account were split into four tiers:
• Sparrow ($5/month) – Users get 145 character limit, 5 extra random followers.
• Dove ($15/month) – Users get 160 character limit, 25 extra random followers, 1 random celebrity follower, auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" T-shirt.
• Owl ($50/month) – Users get 250 character limit, 100 extra random followers, 2 random celebrity followers, 30 minutes on recommended list, auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" hoodie.
• Eagle ($250/month) – Users get 500 character limit, 1000 extra random followers, 3 celebrity followers of their choice, 5 hours on recommended list each month, Twitter Concierge for Tweeting while user is asleep or busy (and more), auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" tuxedo, custom "Fail Whale" page when service is down.
The article cited co-founder and CEO Evan Williams as saying that "Celebrities and large corporations have begun flocking to Twitter for their social media needs, and growth has accelerated. Many users have expressed willingness to pay for accounts, and now we give them that opportunity."
But for any savvy reader, it became clear by the closing paragraphs that it was all just a joke (emphasis mine):
Users in any tier will be able to purchase an EmbellishTwit add-on for $100/year, which directs tweets to a well-educated offshore employee who will embellish tweets. For example, "Just had a whole wheat bagel and coffee for breakfast," becomes "Just got in from clubbing all night and Heidi Klum is spreading brie on a baguette just flown in on the Concord for my breakfast."
Rumors of an even higher level of service the secret "Black" account, which has J. K. Rowling, Stephen King and other famous authors write your tweets have not been confirmed.
With the reports veering quickly into the ridiculous (mandatory celebrity followers?) to the unbelievable (Stephen King penning Twitter accounts?), many appreciated the humor in this look at social media gone wild.
The really remarkable thing is how people reacted to this fake announcement. It picked up speed on Twitter, with people sending out Tweets questioning the post, with many more picking up that it was a tongue-in-cheek jab at Twitter. By midday, it had 3 terms on the search.twitter.com home page.
The cherry on the story comes when Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, caught wind of the story and posted it on his Twitter account:
Brian Briggs, the original poster, was thrilled at the attention and how quickly the story caught on:
Holy crap, the co-founder of AOL, Steve Case, just tweeted today's story link. If that's really him then that's totally awesome. OK, now Kevin Rose just retweeted it, and he has over 300,000 followers. Oh, and it's on Farktoo. Yippee.
And a happy social media fable comes to a close.
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