Last week, the French media were enraptured by
the announcement that a French citizen had been elected as President of
Facebook. It’s a four month term during which the president can send messages
to about millions internet users, members of this online community about the
importance of saving our planet. It was a hoax which completely fooled the
journalists of the national media.
As dozens of software applications developed by
all those who wish to do so, the users of Facebook could through a game
installed by them vote for a candidate to preside over Facebook. The game went on for several weeks
and resulted in the election of a French citizen to the post, who thought that
all this publicity would boost his political career (he was a candidate in 2007
in the legislative elections.)
In a couple of days the internet users and the members of Facebook sounded the alarm and informed the media about the hoax. The media eventually understood that they had been duped, that this election is of no interest to the Facebook Company and that the elected member can’t wield any influence over the company or the network since he can’t communicate with all the registered members.
It’s been a long time that a hoax
has benefited from such wide media coverage. Luckily laying oneself open to
ridicule isn’t fatal. But the journalists who fell for it hook, line and sinker
should go on the net in the future before validating such information.
Electronic democracy does not render people’s
representation into a gimmickry.
