With the investigation into the death of Michael Jackson still ongoing, and claims over the paternity of Paris Jackson hitting the headlines with the involvement of the chap who rose to fame as Oliver in the film way back when and then plummeted to obscurity, you might think that it would be pretty hard for a technology outfit to get on the Jackson media bandwagon right now. But full marks have to go to web promotion business uSocial for trying anyway.
A press release dropped in my lap this morning which claims that uSocial, which amongst other things promises to provide thousands of Twitter followers in return for bundles of your hard earned cash, had been hired to conduct a "Twitter campaign" on a Michael Jackson account, by "someone in his family" according to uSocial CEO Leon Hill.
"I can't admit that we dealt with Michael Jackson directly" Hill says, adding "it was exciting to say the very least to conduct work with such a big name." uSocial claims that some 25,000 Twitter followers were purchased, although not all delivered as Hill says that the company is still working to fulfill the order.
"For obvious reasons we'll be dealing with his family from here on in, though it would have been great to conduct services for Michael Jackson in a different time, under different circumstances" Hill concludes.
One does have to wonder why anyone would want to buy in 25,000 followers rather than build a proper following organically as it were, but especially Michael Jackson or those involved with him. If anyone can quickly build a social network it is Jackson, even after his death I would imagine. Heck, when he died the Internet melted and the spammers quickly jumped on the celebrity death bandwagon both of which are proof of his pulling power.
Unfortunately, uSocial do not appear to be naming names right now, either in respect of the Twitter account involved or the member of the Jackson family for that matter. So we have no way of knowing if it was one of the brothers or a second cousin four times removed looking to make a quick buck somehow.