Fakes are fun, online

Fake diaries of real figures have a long, colourful history, from the faux writings of Adolf Hitler to the fictional blog by Paris Hilton.

But recently, a new subgenre of the “made-up memoir'' has appeared online: The “fake CEO'' blog.

These satiric, internet blogs parody the inner dreams and outer schemes of business titans such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs and News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch.

Changing role

“The role of CEO has changed from good manager to charismatic leader over the last decade,'' says Alex Halavais, communications professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, US.

This is particularly true with consumer technology, which affects people's lives directly.

As Halavais points out, Jobs waits to unveil new products until he can do so personally.

At the same time, these CEOs are in a high-stakes world, where trade secrets can make or break huge companies.

“Parody is a good way to touch a figure that can't take the time to be bothered with honest and direct communication,'' says executive vice-president of US-based Eastwick Communications, Joel Postman.

Forbes magazine reporter Dan Lyons, who has just published a book — Options: the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, a Parody — launched the genre with his “fake Steve Jobs'' blog.

It is an improvisatory parody that he still updates daily. The imaginary musings began over a year ago as an experiment, Lyons says.

Huge following

The patently fake blog promptly drew a huge following (it pulls in more than a million monthly visitors), but he quit a few weeks into the venture.

Fans relaunched the site by demanding more of “fake Steve''. “I was stunned,'' Lyons says, “I'd clearly waded into the ‘cult of Steve'.''

CEOs have become the third leg of the US royalty, just after athletes and film stars, says Cedarville University president and CEO Bill Brown, who has blogged for three years. CEOs seem most approachable, he adds.

“Fake Steve'' is filling a growing demand for information, Brown says, because the public wants more personal information about people who affect their lives.

This form of satire is the response of a generation that demands communication from powers that be.

The funny thing is that some CEOs don't actually write their own blogs at all. Ghostwritten blogs are a growing trend in the corporate world.

The blogosphere is full of ethical and legal minefields, legal experts say.

Lyons says he took great pains to make clear that his blog was fake, which did not prevent many fans from speculating that Jobs was its author.

Blogging blunders

New revelations about blogging bungles have begun to appear regularly, from The New Republic — which retracted a series of blogs about military life in Iraq because of its questionable sources — to Wal-Mart's digital faux pas.

While some early imitators of the “fake Steve'' blog have shut down, the trend is just getting started, says Postman, who calls the genre a great tool to talk back to big companies.

“Once people figure out the formula,'' he says, “what a great opportunity for, say, activists to fake blog about oil companies despoiling the environment,'' he says, adding “you can say almost anything you want without risk.''

Faking it

About “Hang in there'' memo:

So, maybe you've heard about this memo to Apple employees that went out under my name a few days ago in which I told everyone to stay cool about the stock slump and “hang in there''.

Now look. It's true we've lost a lot of market value. But this totally was not my memo. Katie wrote it.

She says it's important because a lot of you are out there whining about your stock portfolios getting hammered. Well here's the thing.

I am personally down almost $400 million.

Do you hear me crying about it? No. You do not. Do you know why? Because I have completely soundproof walls around my office.

You can't hear me crying or kicking and screaming or throwing tantrums or threatening to sue or fire people.

You can't hear anything. But the truth is, if this thing gets much worse I'm going out looking for people to blame.

Heads will roll, ladies and gentlemen. Trust me on that.
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com