I was just researching and remembered this documentary programme i saw a while ago. It was on channel 4 and was called Catfish:
"When New York photographer Nev Schulman receives a painting based on one of his photographs from Abby, an eight-year-old child prodigy in Michigan, they become Facebook friends, and Nev develops online relationships with Abby's family, in particular with her attractive elder half-sister Megan.
But is everything as it seems? Nev travels to Michigan to find out.
A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.
True Stories commissions and showcases the best international feature documentaries."
Heres the trailer from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuE98oeL-e0
Its really good and completely not what i expected from the trailer. It basically demonstrates how easily a false identity, and in this case, a whole family of false identities, can be created by a few Facebook profiles. The creator is able to make themselves into whatever they want to be, and in Catfish the woman it circles around, gains the attention and affection craved by sparking an "online relationship" with an unsuspecting person. I think it can be seen as a warning and that it shows that anyone can fall into the trap of believing too much and not being wary enough.
Yeah I've seen this film. It really does demonstrate how easily, and quite worryingly, someone can claim a false identity. However, *SPOILER* Its interesting to see how the friendship actually develops after all that has happened and how two very different people were brought together through social activity. If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in looking at 'The Social Network' by David Fincher, which (loosely) tells the story of how Mark Zuckerberg designed facebook.
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