It's Twitterpocalypse!
A hi-tech hacker has just caused the biggest ever social networking heist. Could this spell the end for the site loved by celebs? By Joe O'Shea
Demi Moore. Photo: Getty Images
The love affair between A-list celebs and Twitter may be about to end thanks to the chaos caused by a hi-tech hacker.
Celebrities from Ashton Kutcher and Jim Carrey to tween-pop superstar Justin Bieber were hit in the biggest ever social networking hijack.
The celebs suffered collateral damage as the assailant, believed to be Turkish computer expert known only as Twitter user @borakrc, started a chain reaction that wiped out the address books of all 100 million-plus Twitter users in the early hours of yesterday morning.
In what is being called the Twitterpocalypse or Twittergeddon, the microblogging site was thrown into chaos after a computer expert posted details of a loophole that allowed users to "force" others to follow them.
Most social networking sites require users to agree to follow each other -- or accept each other as friends.
But the bug in the Twitter system allowed users to oblige celebrities, including Demi Moore and Lady Gaga, to follow them simply by typing accept@ladygaga.
Celebrity Tweeters were instantly inundated by fans and the system went into meltdown for over two hours.
And it was only when the celebs started Tweeting their distress that Twitter bosses stepped in to try and clean up the mess.
Ashton Kutcher was first to alert his followers by tweeting: "twitter is being hacked by some turkish hacker. haha I have 0 followers."
Justin Bieber, the teenage pop star who has two million followers, responded directly to the hacker, warning him; "u have now pissed off over 2 million teenage girls. They are more dangerous than Navy Seals."
Actor Jim Carrey pondered, "Imagine if this hacker put his/her talent 2 some worthy use. They could 1 day have more than a false sense of superiority."
And reality-TV star and B-movie actress Kim Kardashian expressed the disgust of celebrity Twitter fans who found themselves suddenly forced to follow "ordinary" users.
"Someone hacked my twitter account and direct messaged me! They have added over 200 new people! Ughhhhh."
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who has become a star in the US thanks to his gossipy, dirt-dishing blog, told followers that hundreds of celebs were outraged.
"Celebs now have to go in to their Twitter accounts and manually unfollow the hundreds or more that forced follows. TheDayTwitterExploded."
While it was almost certainly an army of downtrodden personal assistants who were detailed to clean up the virtual mess, the incident did reveal the insecurities at the heart of celebrity culture.
A number of celebs were horrified to find that their loyal following had disappeared in the click of a keypad.
Actress and reality-TV star Tori Spelling, tweeted (in some distress): "OMG! NOOOO. Twitter says I have 0 followers! I think I just lost my heart into my toes ... "
Rap music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was more jocular, saying; "I feel so lonely!!!!! Lol come back soon. I can't live without yall!!! can somebody send me some followers pls lol :). Let's go!!!"
And Joe Jonas of tween pop group The Jonas Brothers summed up the thoughts of those who were suddenly cut off from the addictive world of social networking: "Wait .. So this means I have to actually 'talk' to my friends?"
New media expert Darragh Doyle, the communications manager for Ireland's largest community website, boards.ie, watched the Twitterpocalypse unfold.
"First of all, I thought it was very, very funny," says Darragh.
"You had all of these celebrities suddenly just in a state of total panic.
"They are used to being in total control of their social networking and suddenly they were having to deal with hundreds of people trying to interact with them."
Darragh, who has more than 4,000 followers on Twitter himself, is not a fan of celebrity Tweets.
"With most of the celebrities, what they are tweeting is usually pure drivel. You have exceptions, like Stephen Fry, who try to educate and entertain.
'And even The Edge, when he was on Twitter, was only posting photographs but they were usually interesting, even if it was just a pic of him mowing the lawn.
"Ashton Kutcher is probably the most followed person on Twitter and most of his stuff is just incredibly boring."
Doyle believes the Twitter meltdown may cause a re-think on social networking -- and not just for the likes of Demi and Ashton.
"There's no doubt that we are all now addicted to social networking," he says.
"Just look at the figures, you have almost one and a half million Irish people logging on to Facebook every day of the week.
"Social networking is brilliant for keeping in touch with people.
"You might not have seen a friend for a year but you can look at pictures of their wed- ding and tell them they look great or ask them to stay in touch.
"But it's not there to replace face-to-face communication. And I think what happened with Twitter this week might have reminded people about that.
"Users, and not just celebrities, tend to count the number of people who follow them as a sign of their status -- if I have X amount of followers, I must be X popular.
"Well, having your entire following wiped out in an instant might put that into perspective."
This week's Twitter meltdown is not the first high-profile social networking hacking incid- ent and it is unlikely to be the last.
Barack Obama and Britney Spears are amongst those who have had their personal Twitter accounts broken into.
In both cases, hackers sent out racist or otherwise offensive tweets including, from Ms Spears: "Hi Yall! Brit Brit here, just wanted to update you on the size of my boobies!"
Twitter users have also been the target of various phishing scams, where hackers try to trick regular users into handing over their passwords and personal information including bank account details.
Bizarrely, Twitter has also recently come under attack from hackers believed to be working for the Pakistani Taliban.
Twitter bosses are constantly working on their security -- and this latest incident will have had their IT guys up all night.
- Joe O'Shea
Irish Independent
