Gather around, folks, I will tell you a scary story. Do not be afraid: it happened in a galaxy far, far away, called the Internet…

It was April Fool’s Day 2009 near midnight. I was going to bed. And then, bam – my twitter account got crazy (you know Twitter, right? Get an account here then come back, it is an order). I was receiving hundreds of @replies, from people I did not know. Messages just said:

“@monbocal Bonjour #tweetbomb!”

(If your are reading this, I suppose you definitely own your twitter account, so follow me – my alias is as you might presume monbocal.) Why me? What have I done? And then, I remembered: I had seen it coming.

I befriended the “tweetbombers” community weeks ago. The principle is simple but cruel: follow the user “tweetbomb”, then once or twice a week, do as they say. Tweetbomb asks his followers to send a @reply to someone in particular, all together, at a precise hour, in order to fill the target’s account with a LOT of new messages. This can be pretty annoying: during the attack, the victim simply cannot use Twitter anymore, as he or she is flooded with @replies. But no harm is really done: all of the bombed are volunteers… so was I!

Just before the attack this day, tweetbomb left an April’s Fool joke: they were going to be shut down by Twitter. It was night in France. I was pretty washed up. I fell for it. When tweetbomb unveiled the prank, I replied with this message:

“@tweetbomb That was NOT funny. It is almost midnight here in France, I need my beauty sleep and you’re messing with my brain!”

Next thing I know: my twitter account was going crazy. I have been the designated victim of the day.

“*TWEETBOMB* Today’s April Fools Tweetbomb is @monbocal. Type “@monbocal Bonjour Tweetbomb!” and hit Update. BOMBS AWAY!!!”

Messages kept coming and coming all night long. I was unable to stop laughing, and I did not get my beauty sleep. I managed however to send this message:

“@tweetbomb I just want to add a ROFLMAO. Thanks for everyone, I will think of you next time I eat snails. Passez une bonne journée !”

Beware, twitter users! I have survived a tweetbomb attack once! Nothing can stop me now! Have you heard of other twitter annoying games like tweetbomb? I think I liked it!

Tags: bombe, twitter

Cette entrée a été postée le Samedi, mai 9th, 2009 à 14 h 30 min et est classé dans Geekeries, Suivez le buzz, Vie 2.0. Vous pouvez suivre les réponses à cette entrée via le flux RSS 2.0. Vous pouvez laisser une réponse, ou ajouter un trackback depuis votre site.