We wrote an overview of Champions League on ”official” social media by following UEFA CL, Barcelona and Juventus on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – before, during and after the game. We decided to do the same on fake Twitter accounts of those three sides and there’s a reason behind that.
We got burned. I got burned, to be more exact. The tweet I used as an example of UEFA Champions League activity on TW was from a fake account. So instead of writing a bunch of explanations, I’m handling it like a big girl – let’s see how well fake Twitter accounts of UEFA CL, Barcelona and Juventus covered the big game.
UEFA Champions league
The reason that a mistake happened lies in the name of the account that tweet was taken from – ”@UCLFinal”. The official hashtag of the night was – #UCLfinal. So when you’re on your phone, watching the game, monitoring the hashtag, that kind of account can slip under your radar.
The account has 2k+ followers and as I said in previous article, they weren’t really active. They only tweeted when someone scored.
Who are you backing? #UCLfinal RT for #FCBarcelona FAV for #Juventuspic.twitter.com/NpyoQPwrV0
— UEFA Final (@UCLFinal) June 6, 2015
Again, I would choose this simple tweet. That was their only engaging activity.
Barcelona
Barcelona has many fake accounts in many languages, but I chose @FCB, even though they have an official account linked in the description. They have 12,8k followers. Overall, they have many activities. They post pictures, Vines, retweet fun content, people respond really well, but during the final game of Champions League they only had one tweet.
Two days… https://t.co/e8VhIa3vzf
— FC Barcelona (@FCB) June 4, 2015
Throwback: Messi vs. Juventus in 2005 as an 18 year old breakout star: https://t.co/rlWG5R1aGV #ChampionsLeagueFinal
— FC Barcelona (@FCB) June 5, 2015
Score predictions? #UCLfinal
— FC Barcelona (@FCB) June 6, 2015
Juventus
Juventus doesn’t have as many fake Twitter accounts as Barcelona or UEFA CL, but however this is a real example of an account that really tries to be like an official one, but it’s not really successful. The @JuventusFClub has almost 5k followers, but 0 activity. Sometimes they tweet in English, sometimes in Italian and account is poorly managed.
Neymar: No favorite in Champions League final http://t.co/L9VuIuIpJP#Juventus — Juventus F.C (@JuventusFClub) June 6, 2015
El saludo entre Messi y Tevez http://t.co/FMNnyQmT2V #Juventus
— Juventus F.C (@JuventusFClub) June 6, 2015
Juventus 1-3 Barcelona: Suarez, Rakitic and Neymar deliver Champions League glory http://t.co/xainxaGWkl #Juventus
— Juventus F.C (@JuventusFClub) June 6, 2015
Key stats from the UEFA Champions League final http://t.co/YqjwXNh7Cx #Juventus
— Juventus F.C (@JuventusFClub) June 6, 2015
LEARN FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES, IN THIS CASE – MY OWN
If we forget for a second that there’s a white and a blue tick next to a name of a verified account, there are ways how to spot it. Less followers than a massively popular football club, no or less activity, poor quality photos, wrong official web page, etc. Check who are they following, who follows them, who tweets @ them and who responds @ their tweets.
The point is – there are many ways to spot a fake account. You just have to click on it and don’t depend on a single tweet that made its way to your feed. It’s important to be a fast journalist these days, but quality and ”security” check should always come first.
Most importantly, if this was the UEFA Champions League of fake Twitter accounts the winner would be – UEFA CL. Fake account or not, we love to see action and emotion.
How fake accounts can hinder clubs / players / leagues and do damage?
Thank you Richard Ayers for implying that there was a mistake in the previous article.
