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One is real. The other is not. Can you tell the difference?
A tumble weave sculpture will be added to Overton Square. “Bone Cans” will be added on Union. Liquor stores will be open this Sunday “to help roll in Halloween.”
These are some of the fake announcements from a pair of parody Facebook accounts that have popped up for Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and the city of Memphis.
But city officials (the real ones) are on to the fake ones and the fake ones are on to the real ones, too.
“The City of Memphis” page was launched Sunday. Its first pronouncement was of the new “Bone Cans” to be installed along Union for “fried chicken bones left with nowhere to go.” Its second read: “Sea of Blue on Sam Cooper, an unarmed black man was spotted driving a nice car.”
A parody account for Strickland went live Tuesday with this first post:
Speaking of which, both pages look official AF. They carry images of the Hernando deSoto Bridge, Strickland, and Beale Street. One tip-off, though, may be, that the handle for the fake Strickland page is @DaRealestMayor.
City officials (the real ones) sought to clear the air in a post yesterday providing Memphis social media-ites with the only sure-fire way to know the difference between what is real and what is not.
The check mark under a page’s name at the top left of a Facebook means the page has been verified as authentic. (See the check marks above.)
But the fake city of Memphis page fought back with this:
So, make sure you check those check marks before you go believing that after the council vote on marijuana a shirtless, dreadlocked Strickland has been seen outside of Whatever, or that liquor stores will be open Sunday.
