Weekly New and Digital Media Story

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/02/meadow-walkers-social-network-accounts-are-fake

Paul Walker's representatives have confirmed reports suggesting a posting on Facebook from the late star's daughter is a fake.

A message attributed to 15-year-old Meadow, in which the writer recalled growing up with her late father, appeared on the social media website on Sunday, a day after Walker perished following a car crash in Valencia, California.

The post included a picture of Walker and his daughter and read, "When I was little he taught me to walk, taught me to smile, and taught me to never give up. I loved him even before I knew what love was. He was my hero. The REAL life hero! He will always be in my heart! It brings tears in my eyes as I write this. You're gone, but not forgotten! R.I.P Dad!"

However, the actor's representatives have revealed Meadow is not currently on any social media sites and they insist the heartfelt message was not written by the teen.

Representatives for Walker are working to get the imposter sites removed.

Meadow had moved to California last year to spend more time with her father.

Summary 

Fatal accident involving Paul Walker shocked millions, it was top news over the weekend with users from all different types of social networking sites posted pictures, posts about the star and to praise him for what he had accomplished in his life. 

But through this tragic event, a user had decided to use the actors daughter to attract followers and to rise to fame. This story shows how easy it is to create fake accounts that impersonate famous people, this can even happen to teenagers or anyone in the social networking world. After a tragic death of a famous actor, a fake account was created of his daughter which quickly attracted attention as users thought she was real and therefore re-tweeted or shared the messaged 'Meadow' posted publicly. 

My view

This is an example of the dangers that people could encounter if they believe a fake account is someone they know. There have been incidents with children and teenagers meeting people online and developing relationships which is a easy way of meeting new people however this could be putting them in danger due to the possibility of getting harmed or meeting a pedophile if cyber friends agree to meet up. 

Furthermore the account could say anything and cause followers to react to the posts either agree or disagreeing

there is a possibility of ruining the reputation of the famous person in this case, Meadow Walker. 

This social networking world has allowed users to post their views, opinions and allowed them to follow and keep track of other accounts, this is a great way for users to produce their own material or use the network to keep a track of their favorite famous people. As time progresses, more information is available on the internet due to the ease of finding and getting news from a range of accounts however it may not always be true but can seem to be if it is said enough times. 

This relates to the idea of 'Normal' that we discussed in class, if we see something happen in a certain way again and again and again, it become the 'Norm' and people will assume it will happen all the time, such as the common conventions of Hip-Hop and even horror movies, etc it will be expected. This can be used when we think of how news is spread, similarly to rumors or secrets in high school, it being passed on and attracting enough attention will make it seem like it is a fact when it isn't.