Guest post: What makes spoof Twitter accounts so popular?

The following is a guest post by Liberty-Belle Howard. Her bio is at the end of the article.

The Oscars were only a couple of months ago, but I’m willing to bet that you’ve already forgotten most of the winners. For the majority of us, what left a lasting impression was not Meryl Streep receiving her third Oscar, but rather The Leg That Was Seen Around the World. Angelia Jolie’s leg got so much media attention as a result of its rather bizarre starring role on the Oscars’ red carpet that it even managed to set up its own Twitter account, and has attracted over 47,000 followers to date; not bad for a limb!

To pose a slightly philosophical question, if nearly 50,000 people are following the famous leg, who does a famous leg follow? The answer, obviously, is other celebrities’ body parts. @AngiesRightLeg is following just two other tweeters; @CoopersMustache (Bradley Cooper’s Moustache) and @JLosNipple (err… J-Lo’s nipple). I’m sure Angelina is pleased to note that neither of these celebrity appendages are nearly as popular as her leg, with under 1,000 followers for the ‘tash and just over 5,000 for the nipple – still not bad; both of them have far more followers than me, and I’m a whole person!

It’s plain to see that people enjoy following these spoof accounts, but how long are they really sustainable for? Angie’s leg has recently switched away from its initial leg-related take on current events and has gone all political – tweeting about Hillary Clinton and the presidential race (although the news that Brangelia are tying the knot has prompted a few more comments on Hollywood’s hottest couple). But what really are the draws of tweeting body parts? They are quickly forgotten and become irritating, as there are only so many times “I’m a leg” comes up in your twitter feed before it becomes rather annoying.

It isn’t just body parts that have started their own Twitter accounts, either. Parody accounts are becoming more and more popular, and some of the less topical ones have a far longer shelf life.  For example, @PicturelessPins pokes fun at Pinterest, by tweeting text descriptions of things you might see on the social media site.

Two labrador puppies sleeping in a khaki-colored dog bed

— PicturelessPinterest (@PicturelessPins) April 24, 2012

Whoever thought of adding Tobias Funke of Arrested Development fame to Twitter is genius. Thousands of fans of the cult TV show flocked to add their favourite analyst-therapist at @drtobiasfunke, and he keeps his follwers happy by Tweeting his own unique take on current events

Can’t believe Michael Fassbender was denied a nomination. Am very curious to see his Oscar package.

— Dr. Tobias Funke (@drtobiasfunke) January 26, 2012

And no nomination for poor Leo? If I were his agent, I’d give him a big, consolatory smack on the bottom.

— Dr. Tobias Funke (@drtobiasfunke) January 26, 2012

Dying long before the social media bug hit us all doesn’t mean you can’t have a Twitter account, either. American writer and poet @Edgar_Allan_Poe regularly updates his 40,000 followers on anything from a personal rant to slating the new film based on the last few days of his life, and the odd philosophical thought…

Praytell, how many inches of cleavage do you get before officially being topless?

— Edgar Allan Poe (@Edgar_Allan_Poe) April 25, 2012

Apart from the comedy value, a lot of these spoof accounts do have messages to spread. @NotZuckerberg pokes fun at the social media world that Mark Zuckerberg himself is responsible for creating and @Lord_Voldemort7 keeps the Harry Potter saga going for many fans who are desperate to hold on to the magic world of witches and wizards.

Obviously, spoof accounts are here to stay and I’m sure many more people will jump on the bandwagon to create even more way-out and satirical accounts in the future.

Liberty-Belle Howard is a blogger with a keen interest in all things social media currently working on behalf of Sentiment Metrics – a company that specialises in social media analytics.