October 3, 2013.

(picture to be added soon)

One Big Doubt Hanging Over Twitter's IPO: Fake Accounts

There was a shout of laughter, and the uneasiness caused by Winston's entry seemed to disappear. The old man's whitestubbled face had flushed pink. He turned away, muttering to himself, and bumped into Winston. Winston caught him gently by the arm.

At 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, the Twitter account for Mashable----one of the earliest movers into the now endless world of social media news sites----sent out its 60th tweet for the day.

"May I offer you a drink?" he said.

The tweet itself wasn't particularly interesting, But what happened next was a small window into one of the biggest challenges Twitter will face as it seeks to convince investors that its more than 215 million users are one of the web's most lucrative----and undeveloped----advertising audiences.

"You're a gent," said the other, straightening his shoulders again. He appeared not to have noticed Winston's blue overalls. "Pint!" he added aggressively to the barman. "Pint of wallop."

Within minutes, hundreds of other Twitter accounts reposted the Mashable tweet word for word----more than 400 of them within the first 15 minutes. Scrolling through the never-ending list of those copycats is like a deep dive into the Twitter netherworld, one that regular users would seldom find themselves in.