[Why we can't have nice things] Pulling one on the media, one breaking tweet at a time
August 11th, 2009 by Dave StudinskiRiders on the Invertigo Roller Coaster at the Great America Theme park – 24 to be exact – were stranded mid-air Monday. Hey! That’s an opportunity for on-the-scene twitporting!
It appears Twitter user @cynful1 began tweeting from the coaster during the incident, although a closer look from a local news outlet reveals a potential attention whore looking for a piece of the action.
The Bay Area NBC affiliate reports @cynful1 might be a fake.
Just one problem: Twitter, which notes how a user posts a particular message, reports that all of Cynful1’s messages were posted “from Web.” Unless Cynful1 was toting a laptop, it would be tough to post messages from Web; most Twitterers in her situation would be sending tweets via text message or a mobile app like Tweetie.
Also suspicious: Cynful1 doesn’t mention any plans to visit Great America. Her account doesn’t list a location. But two venues mentioned in previous tweets, Du-Par’s and Hotel Cafe, are located in Los Angeles, not the Bay Area.
Curiously, her tweets started up around 4 p.m. Pacific time — two hours after local fire departments first reported rescue attempts, and well after saturation media coverage had begun, all of which speaks to an attention-getting stunt.
They even tried to call her out on it.
It’s difficult to tell whether the problem was resolved, though it’s a great (non-deadly) example of someone using Twitter for fame when fame is not due.
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