Who are the Facebook Fakesters?

Last week I wrote about Facebook Fakesters, or at least a couple of them. And now I’m noticing them everywhere. Some are really easy to spot. For instance, Jacques Derrida has several profiles despite his being dead, as does Michel Foucault. I’m guessing none of Dumbledore’s profiles are really Dumbledore since he doesn’t exist.

But what about Bob Dylan? And which one would be the real him (probably not the one who’s in the Dartmouth faculty network)? Lou Reed?

Why do I believe Roger McGuinn might be the man himself, but not those other two? Probably because he’s known for hanging out online.

And then there are those in betweens like the guys from R.E.M. whose profiles are “official” rather than fan-constructed, but aren’t them (paging Jean Baudrillard who has many FB profiles himself! The irony!)

I want a list of all the fakesters (and maybe some real people too?) who have FB profiles. And how do you go about guessing which is which. Contributions?

Sorry about the dead French theorist humor. I have a friend who wanted to give a test in her pop culture class but instead of being True/False, it was going to be French Theorists: Dead or Alive. Here is my favorite French Theorist. I’d friend him, but I like to limit my list to living people. I’m funny that way.

I have more to say about this whole topic, including what makes a celebrity (yeah, ok, let’s use that term loosely) profile on Facebook work and what doesn’t, so lend me your thoughts and maybe I can make my thoughts cohere.

Comments (2) to “Who are the Facebook Fakesters?”

  1. I’m still partial to Barthes myself, but that’s just because he wrote about car commercials and wrestling and married the common to his theory.

  2. Roland Barthes available for Facebook friending now!