Credit: funnytimes.com

This week Twitter suffered a maelstrom of spam, porn and phishing attacks. As Pete Cashmore, founder of @mashable, wrote in his CNN column: “The anatomy of these attacks is simple: You receive a message, seemingly from a friend on a social network. The message contains a link and some strong incentive to click it — in the case of the most recent Twitter attack, the note simply asks “This You????.” When you click the link, you’re prompted to log in again to view the page. Except that entering your details here will not log you in to Twitter. Instead, it will send your password to the attackers, permitting them access to your account. Shortly after, your friends receive the same message, which will look like it was sent out by you.”

I was more than a little curious why my friends seemed insistent I needed Viagra.

Speaking of “is this you?”, “You’re so vain” was a trending topic on Twitter this week as a result of Carly Simon’s supposed reveal. For almost four decades there has been speculation about whom the song was truly dissing back in 1972. Now a whisper in the song when played backwards hints at the truth. @HuffingtonPost reports:

“According to an interpretation of a clip of a remastered version of ‘You’re So Vain,’ Carly Simon named David Geffen as the target of the song.”

So now when you’re not playing Led Zeppelin or the Stones backwards, you can reverse spin Carly for masked revenge recording. I’m sure Warren Beatty is relieved.

The music industry had another social media first this week – two stars negotiated use of a sound bite (aka a “sample”) via Twitter, a process that normally involves lawyers, bureaucracy and weeks of waiting. As reported by independent music guide @pitchforkmedia: “After a whirlwind day of tweets that had her hollering at Lenny Kravitz and Stella McCartney, Erykah Badu gets clearance from Paul McCartney to sample the surprisingly funky Wings song ‘Arrow Through Me’ for a new track … This has to be the first major Twitter-based sample clearance ever. Amazing”

Vancouver figured prominently in the social media chatter this week, some of it good news some not.

First, the Canadian women’s hockey team won gold. Unless you were under a curling rock for the past week, you already knew this good news. Then they celebrated, as any Canadians of legal age would, and deservedly so. That’s where it takes a strange turn. From tennis star @andyroddick: “ok so i guess there are ‘controversial’ pics of the Canadian womens hockey team celebrating with ‘alcohol’ after winning gold.. god forbid.”

Co-creator of the TV series Lost, @DamonLindelof, one of many defenders of the women, tweeted: “Cigar-Smoking, Beer-Swilling Canadian Women’s Hockey Team? You complete me.” Amen brother.

Only in the topsy-turvy world of the IOC would having a beer and a stogey after a win be investigation-worthy.  Finally, a sad note from Vancouver, the body of actor Andrew Koenig, son of Walter Koenig (Chekov in the original Star Trek) was found in Stanley Park this week. According to his father, the younger Koenig had apparently suffered from depression for some time, and had been avoiding his medication for the past year. According to @VancouverSun the elder Koenig was shaken as he announced the tragic news, imploring people with depression to reach out rather than make the fateful decision to suicide.

“If you know or are one of those people who feel like you can’t handle it any more, if you can learn anything from this, it is that there are people out there who care. You may not think so, and ultimately it may not be enough, but there are people that care. Before you make that final decision, check it out again, talk to somebody,” Koenig said.

As usual, send me your feedback on Twitter at @dblacombe or via e-mail doug@communicatto.com.

Doug Lacombe is president of communicatto.com, a digital marketing, investor and public relations agency.

Recent posts

• Six social networks you probably haven’t heard of
• Digital literacy key to success in Canada’s growing digital economy
• Blue Imp social media seminar follow up resources
• Biotalent social media boot camp resources
• Twitter trash talk shaves off pounds
• When warm & fuzzy goes dark & ugly, a #bashtag is born
• Third Tuesday World Kiva Day recap: A community within a community, within a community…doing a world of good
• When will IR ‘get’ social media?
• Book Review: The REAL Truth About Social Media
• 80-20 rule applies to social media marketing too