samedi 8 août 2015

Friends and followers for sale: the famous French duck is buying fame


"Les tromperies de l'e-renommée sont bien mal embouchées" says the title in Le Canard enchainé  Wednesday, August 5, 2015) about "The duperie of e-reputations", a play on the refrain of a Georges Brassens song. "Trumpets of fame, you're talking dirty" ("Trompettes de la renommée, vous êtes bien mal embouchées"). Le Canard enchainé is a well-known satirical weekly newspaper ("canard" - duck - is French slang for newspaper). 1,20 € per issue, carries no advertising.

The song by Georges Brassens, French poet and singer, made fun of the people press (cf. video, infra, 1961). Newspapers and magazines were publishing articles at that time about Brassens' health and he was complaining: "trompettes de la renommée vous êtes bien mal embouchées". Already a question of privacy.
The article is about fake Facebook fans or Twitter followers. To make its point, the Duck (Le Canard) opened a Twitter account and bought followers (150 for 10 € / $). In less than two hours, the Duck boasted 527 followers... and the deed was done.
The journalist, Sorj Chalandon, then reminds us of the number of followers and fans that the former and the actual French president have (850,000 and more than a million respectively)...

Non viewable ads for sale, fake fans and followers, views resulting from bots counted as audience: obviously, something is rotten in the state of the Web!




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