Earlier today, the official Badlands National Park Service Twitter account dropped some truth bombs, and received a Presidential backhand for its trouble — deleted tweets and apparent radio silence since.
But if you jump on Twitter at the moment, you’ll probably see a Badlands account continuing to throw shade. All is not as simple and joyfully rebellious as it seems.
You see, there are actually two accounts. One is impersonating the other, and doing so using one of the oldest tricks in the make-fun-of-someone-online book.
The new account, which joined Twitter within the last few hours, has a capital I rather than a lower-case L in the middle of its name.
@BadlandsNPS is the official, verified Twitter account for the Badlands National Park in South Dakota (which I’ve been to — it’s a beautiful place). Its handle is spelled B-A-D-L-A-N-D-S:
@BadIandsNPS is the unofficial, unverified Twitter account — and its handle is spelled B-A-D-I-A-N-D-S. As you can see, on desktop and on mobile the two look very similar:
The second account’s creative use of the capital I is potentially confusing a lot of Twitter users that didn’t previously follow either of the two, leading to some very popular anti-Trump tweets like this one popping up:
We look forward to working with the new administration. We have a lot in common, after all. pic.twitter.com/I5VDEKaV7A
— BadlandsNPS (@BadIandsNPS) January 24, 2017
Some people have been caught out enjoying the apparently ongoing feud, but it’s all theatre. Parody or impersonation accounts are easy to find for any vaguely popular account with an L or two in it — like @realDonaldTrump, for example. @ReaIDonaidTrump isn’t as popular as the real estate tycoon slash leader of the free world’s, though.
There’s also @BadHombreNPS, if you’re looking for some more unofficial — but also more obvious — Trump-baiting science-based factual snark. [Twitter]