Creating and sustaining a parody Twitter account

DISCLAIMER: We are not claiming to be good at what we do - we are just writing what we believe works. Choose to believe or follow what we say at your own volition. Did we use this word right? Oh well. Read on.

Remember this module?

NM1337
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NM1338 - Creating and Sustaining a Parody Twitter Account.

LECTURE 1

Let us start with the definition of 'parody'

"A parody is  work created to mock, comment on, or make fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation."

Step 1 - 
Choose a famous figure or organization that people will be interested in

Can you name them all?

Step 2
Get a good feel of how that figure/organization will speak. 
This is crucial, and here are some examples.

@fakeYoda : Follow me, you must
@fakeYoda : Tell you a funny joke, I will!
@fakeyoda: Learn my way of speaking, you have to.

@fake_Xiaxue : fuck la! stupid nose job made my nose runny again!
@fake_Xiaxue: bloody PZ showing off her red panties again! shameless!
@fake_Xiaxue : I hate smelly people!
@fake_Xiaxue: omg that bunny furry thing DAMN CHIO pretty!

@fake_CentralLibrary: Next week, we have a tour of the top ten most popular sleeping spots in the library
@fake_CentralLibrary: Following that is a hands on demonstration of how to annoy your fellow library users with noisy keyboards
@fake_CentralLibrary: Library is closed! (to ATs only, we have hit the AT limit) (What is the point of this really, ATs don't use Twitter)

Generally, an organization always sounds more professional like the above example, or at least types in proper English. It does not tweet with 'Internet/SMS lingo' like:

@fake_FoS : we lik 2 use chemicalz 2 make tings go boomz!
@fake_FoS: sigh we r so bored. wonder what's goin on over at e cool people side (arts)
@fake_FoS: y the place smell so farny one ah? is it some1 fart or got sulphur leak again?

The only exception I can think of is when you are trying to squeeze a message in the 140 limit of Twitter. Then, go ahead and shorten your words.

Even worse, with bad grammar/English in general:

@fake_UTWP : hi we are advertisings the new programs we  have, hope that many ppl will joins rapidly ok
@fake_UTWP : we will make all students has good english and be excellent writers k.

(unless that is exactly your aim, e.g. to mock a literary organization with poor English)


The problem with NOT doing this step is that there will result in a mismatch between what you say and what you are supposed to represent. Thus, you will not be 'a parody account'. You are indeed a fake account. Next point is closely related:


3) If possible, take on all the characteristics of your target, and be relevant as much as possible

Our favourite example is Lord Voldemort

@Lord_Voldemort7 : I follow NO ONE.

As Lord Voldermort indeed does not follow anyone, this parody account does not follow a single person. Zero. Followers.

Another one we like is fake Singtel, whom if i'm not wrong call themselves @SingtelPR or something to that extent, and one of their recurring jokes is as such:

@SingtelPR : Another happy customer  - RT @tom1999 FUCK YOU SINGTEL WHY MY INTERNET SO SLOW

To explain this point more precisely, you need to tweet relevant information about whatever you are trying to spoof. For instance, if you are fakeStarhub, you tweet regarding Starhub issues.

Of course you don't have to limit your tweets to JUST those issues. Feel free to include jokes, comment about news (from your perspective, would be even better)

We know we ourselves don't exactly follow this strictly, but we do try to keep to it as much as possible.



4) Develop a sense of humor

And a random riddle:
If a mosquito can fly, can a fly mosquito?

You can follow all of the above rules and still flop terribly because - you simply aren't funny.

Noone wants to hear about how the clouds swirl in the air when the wind blows. Noone wants to hear about how many nuggets you bought during McDonald's 1-for-1 day on March 1st. Noone wants to hear about how your tummy hurts when you eat too much chilli.

Helming a fake Twitter account is NOT easy. It's not easy to be funny all the time. Don't start one if you do not think you are a humorous person to begin with.
Alternatively, being extremely cynical can work for you too. Cynicism can be funny. Can be.


5) Think of some great tweets to start with
These are probably the most important tweets you'll make. Psychologists have coined a phenomenon called the 'primacy effect'. Simply put, people remember the events that occur first more than subsequent events.

You need to start off strong, with a bang. It's ok to go cold for a while after that (Noone is funny all the time, besides Neil Patrick Harris (Barney from HIMYM) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory)) but your first few tweets have to be good to make an impression.

6) Find some way to enter the scene
We are going to reveal a big secret - our entry strategy. Yes, we did plan it all, from the starting tweets (remember the #howwehandlebadresults series?) to this entry strategy we had.

What we actually did was we found our predecessor (the now defunct @fakeFASS) and mass followed everyone that was following them. After all, that was our target audience.

From there, we figured we would get ourselves publicity by word of mouth - if we were good enough. Then came the tweets - mostly about school and about exam results, which was 'the thing' of that moment. Through these relevant tweets, and also by building good relations with our fellow beloved fake twitter accounts like @therealfakentu and @fakemoe, and other very supportive and entertaining Tweeters like @cchockolate and @musereomuse , we were able to get the sizable audience we have today.

Of course, this isn't necessary if you are representing some famous organisation or a popular figure, or you have @fakeMOE helping to promote you (if you are a school) . You guys have it easy now. :(


6) Tweet regularly
We'll repeat (don't ever put 'again' after the word 'repeat'; it's redundant) - It is not easy to sustain an account for long. You need to constantly tweet relevant, interesting material. It's almost expected of you. If you can't, don't start one.


That's all we have. Good night and good luck for exams!



Know of great parody Twitter accounts? Let us know! We are always glad to add a funny Tweeter to our News Feed!