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Thursday, March 28, 2024

In the grand tradition of fake Twitter accounts — “grand tradition” meaning this is a fad that started at least several months ago — there is a “Fake Bob Healy” account in which someone is sending out parody tweets satirizing Cambridge’s well-paid city manager.

“Want constituent services? MOVE TO SOMERVILLE!!” goes the inaugural tweet, posted just Tuesday at about 9:45 a.m., quickly followed by a handful of others. Mostly respond to others’ tweets.

When @lelandcheung says he “Enjoyed a dance with Councillor Simmons at her birthday party last night,” Fake Bob Healy asks, “WTF wasn’t I invited!?”

When @lelandcheung says Simmons has “got moves,” Fake Bob Healy boasts of his salary: “She’s got moves, I’ve got money ($300k, to be exact)!”

And so on.

There are so many fakes out there (most of them self-declared or obviously intended to be funny) that there are by now several collections of them — one by Digital Labz has gathered 65 fake accounts you can follow of everyone from fake Rudy Giuliani and fake David Hasselhoff to fake Ralph Wiggum from “The Simpsons” — and some collect thousands of followers and go on to other forms of success. Journalists enjoy @FakeAPStylebook, which has been made into a fake Associated Press-style book with unhelpful advice like “So as not to offend readers, use ‘the N-word’ instead of ‘Nebraska.’”

As of Tuesday just before 11 a.m., Fake Bob Healy had nine people following him.