I Like Iyke

(From the Janesville Messenger, 5-11-2015)

You might be impressed that 274 people are following me on Twitter. Until you know that 265 of them think I am someone else.

Of course, the first question you may ask is why on Earth I am on Twitter in the first place. And in all honesty, there is really no good reason, at least not from a personal standpoint.

It all dates back to 2009, the year of my great social media awakening, when I officially became part of the generation that stole Facebook from America's youth. Facebook was fun and even addicting, but Twitter? I didn't see the point.

Then my employer added a new feature to its digital billboards which allowed us to use Twitter to instantly update information on the displays. The primary demonstrator needed to create an account that tied into the billboards, and that fell to me.

In doing so, I unwittingly erred in two ways. One, it was set up like my own account, using my real name. Second, the profile identified me as an actor with a photo in costume as Cogsworth the clock from “Disney's Beauty and the Beast.”

The account served its purpose. The first 100 or so tweets were almost exclusively from trade shows in Janesville and Rockford. At some point in mid-2011, however, I noticed that I actually had followers – a lot of them. Most were women from the African continent, especially Nigeria. Assuming it was a scam of some sort, I ignored them. But similar friend requests, messages and followers started showing up on Facebook, too. After comparing notes with my friends, it appeared that no one else was receiving these African contacts.

Finally, a comment in one of the uninvited messages gave me a clue. A Google search revealed the answer – a Nigerian actor named Jim Iyke. He is a Nollywood (Nigerian Hollywood) sex symbol and bad boy. The confusion with me was obvious.

Apparently, the lower case L in my Twitter name, plus the reference to being an actor, led to my large group of admirers. The profile photo of a dorky white guy dressed as a clock did nothing to dissuade them. Amused by this discovery, I briefly changed my Facebook profile photo to one of Mr. Iyke.

Boy, was THAT a mistake.

A tsunami of messages and friend requests from overseas engulfed my account. It was like the movie “Monty Python's Life of Brian” when poor Brian gets mistaken for the Messiah and can't convince anyone otherwise.

Three times in six months, I tweeted my followers to alert them they had the wrong guy. It didn't work; the fans kept coming. It was time for a new approach.

@jimlyke7 – 7 Jan 2012: I quit movies. I hate Nollywood. Moving to Turkey.

That didn't work. Therefore, another tweet.

@jimlyke7 – 25 Jan 2012: Nollywood is the worst. I am quitting movies. I hate my fans. I am moving to America because I hate Africa.

In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the most mature way to go about it, though it was kind of fun. Subsequent solutions included the hashtag #NotNigerian, highlighting my non-African heritage on my Twitter profile, and adding a big cover photo that practically screamed “I am a goofy Caucasian!” I even went so far as to change my Facebook name to Jim NotTheNigerianActor Lyke.

The message finally seemed to register. Though it doesn't appear that many of my foreign friends have actually un-followed me, the Facebook messages have trickled down to almost none except an occasional “hi plz frnd me.”

The recent Twitter activity to establish my true identity actually led to some real followers. This is turn encouraged me to send a few tweets; just for the novelty of it, I guess. But I'm still not seeing a real need or purpose for a guy like me to use Twitter, other than perhaps as a source of news, sports and weather information.

Or...maybe to promote a certain monthly newspaper column. What do you think, Mr. Editor?