Ignore Twitter: Actor Zach Braff Is Not Dead

UPDATE

Zach Braff addresses his Twitter death hoax.

Dear Zach Braff fans. Your beloved Dr. J.D. Dorian is not dead, despite what you may have heard on Twitter. Beginning this afternoon, a fast-growing stream of tweets began reporting the death of the former Scrubs star with a link pointing to a fake CNN story claiming he had committed suicide. As of yet, there has been no word from the Braff camp to officially denounce the Twitter hoax, but you can be assured it is coming.

Twitter has been praised repeatedly for the way in which the website captures the pulse of society on a minute to minute basis. Unfortunately, it appears that, as the website continues to gain users, it is becoming more and more susceptible to an endless array of hoaxes and scams.

Just a few months ago, in the wake of the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett, a massive stream of Tweets declared actor Jeff Goldblum dead. The actor later poked fun at the situation on the Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report. While Goldblum took the situation in stride, there is a fine line between a friendly prank and a dangerous hoax. In some cases, scammers latch onto popular Twitter stories with phishing schemes causing considerable damage to less than savvy Internet users.

While Twitter works out the kinks in quickly defusing these stories, it is important that all Twitter users look at the things they see in their feed from a logical and objective point of view. Don’t retweet a story blindly, that is how a hoax spreads.  Most importantly, don’t click on any suspicious link you find on Twitter or elsewhere. Taking practical steps to protect your identity online is a critical way to manage your online reputation.