Cat-astrophes

Approximately 60 000 people worldwide have or will soon be discovering that they have somehow befriended a @JoshHelfferich on Twitter. They might wait a moment, paused, befuddled at this person's tweets somehow appearing in their feed - as I was, seeing as 'real' people I follow I could probably count on one hand.

They may not notice due to some stupid number of random people they follow for no good reason.

Either way, you probably didn't follow @JoshHelfferich by choice.
But I bet you were a follower of TextInstagram? The witty one liners that made fun of about 85% of instagram content in a hit? (and of course I can't think of *one* off the top of my head. But it is 6:27 am, and I have been up 12 times last night, so I'm forgiven)
Ah yes, the old switcharoo.

Jeff Helfferich was the mastermind behind TextInstagram. I give him kudos for making me chuckle on more than one occasion. When that ship ran it's course he deleted all tweets and renamed it as his own personal account. Genious, right?

Do I really care for the uncatagorised one liners of a random person? I don't believe so. So why not hit unfollow? Because it's like watching a train crash. Or a really bad movie. How will 60-something-thousand followers react when they find they've been had?

And have we been really had? What sort of slimy one is this guy pu lling? Publicity stunt? Career move? Followers Envy? Or did he seriously think because of one idea people will want to listen to everything else he had to say?

What has really intrigued me is the reactions of the people. Some have voted with their finger and just switched him off (about 10 000 in the first day). Some have reacted angrily, bitterly and quite venomously. Some have applauded the little sneaky move. Then there are a bunch of fence sitters who kind of shrug their shoulders (I think these are the ones that also have stupid amounts of random people they have forgotten why they follow in the first place).

I assume there are more like me too. The ones watching voyeuristically to see what happens next. Then when it all dies down, he'll get the flick.

Why is this all so controversial? One Tweeter phrased it so well: "Transparency is the currency of trust in Internetland." - @brookr

It is ironic that in such a virtual world where you can almost literally be anyone, do anything... We still value trust above all else. Even though there are a bunch of us private paranoids who make up pseudonyms and dance around real information, and another bunch who 'self improve' online, the moment we find out we've been 'had'.... The whole net falls apart (HA! Pardon the pun).

Someone could argue that it is some sort of evidence that there is still that human desire for values - for the golden rule even when presented with the opportunity for intellectual anarchy (so to speak).

Sorry Josh. I don't know you from the guy down the street. I follow some randoms on instagram because they have talent. And are witty. And don't beg to be followed.

You may be one talented fellow for all I know, but come on, it's the principle of the matter.