So, how well do you actually know someone on Twitter?

Someone once described Twitter to me as the new Mxit - only it's on your computer, and not your cellphone. I've never used Mxit before, and started using Twitter last year to try and promote my new business. After a while, someone suggested that I stop only marketing and promoting my business, as this actually puts some people's backs up - and start chatting to people and finding out what they are interested in, etc - just as you would in real life. (You don't just walk up to someone new and start talking about your product when you first meet them!) So this is what I did, and it's definently helped. You can't believe the amount of information going around daily, hourly and by the minute on Twitter; from the best places to eat, to which companies to avoid doing business with, to movie ratings, jokes and anything and everything you can think of. Twitter was also first to report the shark attack that happened earlier this year at Fishhoek, in Cape Town - even before News24.com.

www.twitter.com 

When you're on Twitter, you usually chat to more or less the same group of people on a daily basis. To do this, your first need to decide who is interesting enough that you want to "follow", and then other people will decide if they want to "follow" you.  Naturally, like any interaction between people who share common interests or goals, you look forward to catching up for a few minutes a day with these people. Yes, you get the spammers, as you do everywhere on the internet - but generally everyone is genuine in who they are and what they do. Well, almost everyone...

Last week was a bit of a shocker for me. Two people in particular, of whom I will not mention names, (there are still some people who want to stay out of this, or who don't believe what's happening - and each to his own, I'm not judging anyone - this is my point of view and thoughts only) came into my life on Twitter. These two people, in their early twenties and seemingly passionate about what they do for a living, came off as very entertaining - you couldn't help but like them immediately, and I will admit I usually looked forward to what they'd be tweeting about. The shocker? It appears (again, my opinion) that what these two people have been feeding us all these months, may just be a big fat lie. A few people suspect the same, but most have just shrugged it off. Me - I was going to do business with one of them, I generally liked them and I don't like being fooled. So, that's what this blog post is about - not about outing these two, pointing fingers or being vindictive, I want other people to be aware that not everyone is who they appear to be - no matter how nice, funny or smart they come off as.

So, why do I think these two people are faking who one of them is, or even who they both are? This is what I've picked up over the last few days, and it's my opinion and point of view only:

• Their status on Facebook is "Engaged" but there isn't a single photo of the two of them together. Not one. This is what initially made me question their relationship, but then other people started questioning more things that just didn't make sense.
• One of them has over 700 pictures of herself, she loves having her photo taken (her words), but again - not a single photo of the two of them together. Odd.
• Of the 700 photos, alot of them are model shots - you'd think this lady was a professional model, yet she only want's to work in the beauty / stylist industry. Why? She's 25, not 35...
• There isn't one single photo of her with a landmark or anything familiar that is from Cape Town or South Africa...not one. Strange.
• In my opinion, after looking at her photos again - I noticed that the type of clothes, the food, etc didn't look like it was from SA at all, we're still quite conservative - if I had to guess, I'd say it looked quite American really. Again - MY opinion. No proof, no facts - just what I think.
• She went to visit her family for a month over December - 2 hours away from her fiance, yet they never got together - not even once, while he was working. Surely if you're in love, you'd want to see each other? (He lives in Gauteng).
• He plans to move to Cape Town to be with his fiance, but seems very relaxed where he is right now and not really bothered when he sees her. He just got a new job (part time). Is it just me, or if you're in love, won't you try anything to move to be with your love? I don't get it.
• No one has ever met her. A few people (myself included) have made appointments with her to do business together, but she either doesn't get back to you, cancels at the last minute or simply doesn't pitch up. Strange...
• Anyone who asked a simple question last week, those of us who didn't understand these things (like why there are no pictures of the two of them together), were blocked from their Twitter accounts and taken off as friends from FaceBook immediately. Does this look like they have nothing to hide? To me - this is a very clear indication that everything, or most of what I suspected is true.

 So there you have it. I don't have proof and I don't really care anymore. I just had to put it all out there, because there are alot of these people out there, some of them have alterior motives and you just can't be too careful. Just because someone has put hours into their Facebook page with photo albums and information and who tweet everyday, does not mean that person is real or who they say they are. The days of IRC chatting are gone, but Twitter and FaceBook are here to stay. If you're ever in doubt, ask questions - you have a right to know who you are talking to and sharing information with. With that said, not everyone is out to play a game or scam you - you just need to see the bigger picture, and not be afraid to question things that seem a bit out of place.