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NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Profiled (Real or Fake?)

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NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Profiled (Real or Fake?)

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's decision to reveal his identity after reportedly leaking classified government spying secrets and fleeing to Hong Kong in June 2013 triggered a ton of activity in social media, both real and fake.

All across the Internet, people looking to connect with the real Edward Snowden through social media had a hard time, because Snowden apparently didn't maintain a Facebook or Twitter presence, at least not under his own name.

While he did leave online trails from comments he had previously posted in public forums such as the one at techie site, Ars Technica, the only social media profiles about Snowden appeared to be fake and spoof ones set up after he burst into the public spotlight.

Edward Snowden, 29 at the time he blew the whistle on a National Security Agency surveillance program dubbed PRISM, was a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii doing work on NSA programs. Previously, he had dropped out of high school, enlisted and briefly served in the U.S. Army, and worked overseas for the CIA, according to media reports.

In the week after Snowden's name and biographical details hit the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets lit up with pages and comments supporting and praising him, as a number of public opinion polls showed more Americans looked favorably on Snowden for his decision to reveal details of government spying than considered him a criminal or traitor.

Fans and critics created all kinds of Facebook pages popped up about the NSA whistleblower, including the "Edward Snowden Support Page" shown above, which gathered 22,000 "likes" in its first week or two.

People created other pages on other social media sites, too, including some that were made to look like real Snowden profiles.

Click "Next" below for additional details about the NSA whistleblower in social media.

Edward Snowden Accounts in Social Media Were Fakes

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters to whom Snowden leaked spying secrets, interviewed Snowden extensively and sent a Tweet declaring "Any Twitter or Facebook accounts purporting to be Edward Snowden are fake." (See Greenwald's Tweet above.)

The Guardian did offer the public a glimpse of the real Edward Sowden, though. Guardian reporters recorded a video interview with Snowden, in which 29-year-old who formerly worked on NSA and CIA projects admitted to being behind disclosures about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

In the Snowden video interview, the NSA whistleblower tried to explain his actions, saying, among other things, "I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things."

Fake Twitter Profile for Edward Snowden

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden apparently did not maintain a Twitter account, at least not under his own name, according to media accounts.

However, a Twitter profile purporting to be Edward Snowden (shown above) appeared online quickly after the NSA spying scandal erupted, and the fake Snowden profile gained thousands of followers in short order.

In typical fashion for fake Twitter accounts (which often are designed to gain a lot of new followers quickly by spoofing or tracking a big news story), the @ejosephsnowden account was one that had previously been created and used before the scandal erupted.

Its owner likely renamed an existing Twitter account when the spying story erupted and added a photo of the real Edward Snowden to the renamed Twitter page, making it appear to a casual visitor that it might actually be Snowden's Twitter account.

But the Twitterati hardly seemed fooled. The account @ejosephsnowden had only 521 followers within a week after it adopted the "Edward Snowden" profile name and image.

People wanting a glimpse of the real Edward Snowden headed over to the Guardian's website, where the newspaper published a video interview with Snowden from Hong Kong and various stories discussing Snowden's biography and motives.

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald generated so much attention for his coverage of Snowden that he became the target of a spoof Twitter account, too. The fake Twitter profile said "Glenn Greenwald" was his user name, but the actual user name -- his @useraddress -- misspelled the reporter's real name as "ggreenwild."

The fake Twitter account, @ggreenwild, tweeted erroneous information about Edward Snowden, including a widely retweeted message that proclaimed the NSA whistleblower was dead.

(See image above.)

The "Edward Snowden is Dead" Tweet may have been what got the fake Greenwald account deactivated, but not before BuzzFeed took screen shots of the "real" and "fake" Greenwald Twitter accounts and showed a side-by-side comparison titled, " A Handy Guide To The Very Fake Twitter Accounts Of Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden."

All across the Internet, the Edward Snowden story generated social media chatter.

On Tumblr, people posted commentary, links and photos galore. Snowden's youth and good looks appear to have captured the attention of many young people. One Tumblr page appeared under the title, "Edward Snowden - Kinda Hot."

On Twitter, people endlessly debated the merits of his actions and the massive NSA surveillance program that Snowden brought to the world's attention.

Tweets of support came from the likes of @WikiLeaks and Kim Dot Com. BuzzFeed published data from Topsy, a social analytics firm, suggesting the initial chatter on Twitter was overwhelmingly more favorable than negative toward Snowden, judging by the use of "hero" vs. "traitor" in related tweets.

Tens of thousands of people signed an electronic petition calling on the government to "Pardon Edward Snowden" -- even though he hadn't been charged with any crime.

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