The man who created a fake expert

Santiago Swallow. If you’ve never heard of him, we can only assume you’ve been living in a cave for the last few years.

Santiago, you see, is one of the leading social media gurus on the planet. With a verified Twitter account being followed by thousands upon thousands of people, a comprehensive Wikipedia page, a published author and a regular speaker at major conferences like TED an SXSW, it is fair to say that he has a solid reputation and a wide reach.

But wait, what’s that? You haven’t heard of him?

Well that’s okay, because as it turns out you’re not alone. In fact hardly anyone has heard of him.

But how can such a revered online expert with such an influential social media following be almost totally unknown on the Internet?

Well, as it turns out, it’s because he doesn’t exist.

In fact the entire personality, including his Wiki page, social media accounts, website, email and biography, had all been faked by a man named Kevin Ashton, in an experiment about how easy it is to create an online “self” that for all intents and purposes, is entirely nonsense, yet still gives the appearance of being both real and in this case even well-known and influential.

Basically, Ashton created the illusion of a renowned expert, and all for the minimal cost of the website hosting and purchasing some fake social media followers. And all within only a handful of hours.

The entire experiment serves to remind the rest of us just how easy it is to create an entirely fake online presence, and to always take things you see and the people you meet in cyberspace with a grain of salt.

Remember, Ashton created an Internet famous expert within only a few hours. Creating a regular fake average-Joe identity isn’t going to prove a problem for anyone. Even a convincing one.

Full article on qz.com.