Fun & Famous

IN THE GRIP OF THE INSTAGRAM-COPYCAT

For someone who claims to always be on top of all the dirt and sleaze, I apparently completely missed a mega Instagram storyline last month. Oops. Last Thursday, I was having cocktails at the most beautiful Pulitzer hotel with some friends when one of the girls (a mega babe on Instagram, you should follow) told me that she has an Instagram catfish. Luckily, she could laugh about it, because you know you’ve made it when someone imitates you. Oscar Wilde once said: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but then another friend came up with the bizarre story of an even crazier Instagram-copycat.

Let me introduce you to travel blogger Lauren Bullen in case you (like me) didn’t know this story at all. Last November, she found out that one of her fans was stalking her and her boyfriend. She literally copied everything Lauren posted on Instagram. The location, the pose, the clothes, the captions; everything. And although Oscar Wilde might see that as flattery, it’s also really quite creepy.

The internet went berserk. Everyone thought it was all genuine. That Lauren and her boyfriend indeed had someone following their every move. But when more people started to look into it, it seemed that it was all fake. That both accounts were Lauren's. A stunt to gain more followers, because apparently, the lady didn’t think 600,000 followers was enough. Girl, that’s still 598,300 more than I have, but that's beside the point.

To this day, Lauren claims that this is all not a hoax. That she is not secretly responsible for it. “I already had 600K followers, why would I need 200K more? Why would I risk losing all my followers for extra followers? That would be stupid.” Well Lauren, all roads are leading to the fact that you really did it yourself. A bit strange that both accounts are linked to the same Twitter account…?

Moral of the story: you’re only a somebody when others start to imitate you. Or you just have to become your own catfish. Well guys, let’s see if I can also manage to get those extra 200K followers within a week. To be continued…