The beauty of the internet is that you can post whatever you like without revealing your identity, right? Well, it's a little trickier to get away with if you're a public figure.
D.C. politics blog Wonkette discovered a private Facebook account registered to the user "Lou Sarah." The account was used in part to positively comment on and "Like" things posted to Sarah Palin's official page. The Lou Sarah account was registered to Ms. Palin's Gmail account, Ms. Palin's middle name is Louise and Lou Sarah's small friends list consists of Ms. Palin's political appointees.
Coincidence? Wonkette didn't think so, suggesting the account was set up by Ms. Palin.
Soon after the accusation, Ms. Palin said she didn't have any secondary accounts and the profile was removed from Facebook.
Regardless of whether that account was indeed set up by the politician herself, Ms. Palin wouldn't be the first to turn to a secondary online account to seek anonymity online. When married Republican congressman Christopher Lee responded to a personals ad on Craigslist, he thought he had his bases covered by using his Gmail account instead of his official one. Problem is, that e-mail address is associated with his Facebook page. What's more, he also sent the woman who posted the ad a shirtless photo of himself without his face obscured – the same face that's on his website all campaign material.
When the story broke, he resigned.
Registering fake accounts on review sites is nothing new for those in the food/hospitality industry, either. Owners have been known to post glowing reviews about their own establishment on sites or slamming competitors under the cloak of anonymity.
What kind of mischief do you get up to with your secondary online account? C'mon, we know you have one...
Dakshana Bascaramurty