03/14/08

current event
title:Dupre's MySpace page evolves with scandal

who:Ashley Alexandra Dupre

what:In three days, Ashley Alexandra Dupre went from being an unknown 22-year-old aspiring musician to the fifth most-searched subject on Google because of her alleged sexual encounters with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.After she was identified by The New York Times, throngs of journalists staked out her home.
At the same time, she appeared to have jumped on her MySpace page, which was identified by the Times, and a Facebook profile with the same name and photos.It seemed she was trying to stay one step ahead of journalists, attempting to limit what information they could access.
She was seemingly aware that the press would have access to her friends and every word, photo and comment on her profiles, so she began by deleting connections between her friends on Facebook.
Facebook and MySpace have become one of the go-to background tools for journalists in the past couple of years, allowing members of the press to put a face to the subject of their story and find out more about them.

when:3/14/08

where:new york times

why:After she was identified by The New York Times, throngs of journalists staked out her home.
At the same time, she appeared to have jumped on her MySpace page, which was identified by the Times, and a Facebook profile with the same name and photos.
It seemed she was trying to stay one step ahead of journalists, attempting to limit what information they could access.
She was seemingly aware that the press would have access to her friends and every word, photo and comment on her profiles, so she began by deleting connections between her friends on Facebook.

how:Some of her close friends made sure their feelings were known to the press, too. Some posted on her MySpace page telling her to ignore the media, that they would be there for her and reminding her to stay strong.
But even those who weren't close with her seemed to want in on the action. Some identifying themselves as her high school classmates created a group on Facebook devoted to those who had classes with her.
The early morning hours slipped by and Internet activity on Facebook continued until 5 a.m., when she apparently confronted the high school classmates on the group page. It seemed she believed they were trying to exploit her situation.
"Do me a favor and don't try to cash out... thanks," she wrote on the Facebook group page.
Thursday morning, the Dupre Facebook status gave the impression she wanted no part of the attention.
"Sneaking out the back door," she wrote under her "current status."
But as the day went on, it seemed Dupre's feelings were changing and she might have been embracing the newfound spotlight.
The page had received more than 1,100 friend requests on Facebook. Initially, she ignored them