Snow Brings Online Impostor

ROGERS — Those checking to see if Rogers schools are in session today will want to be certain they check the correct Twitter account.

One of the biggest disruptions in Benton County on Monday was caused not by snow or slick roads, but by a Twitter account supposedly belonging to the Rogers School District.

District officials spent Monday trying to clear up confusion caused by a fake Twitter post that announced school was closed because of weather.

The fake account on Twitter, a website that allows users to post short messages, closely mirrored the district's real account.

Most of the fake account's messages were the same as those of the real account. The account names were different by only one character: @RogersSchools is the real account; @Rogers_Schools is the fake.

"Rogers schools are closed Monday, Jan. 10, due to weather," the fake post read.

There was some snow on the roads Monday morning, but the district did not cancel classes.

Local Twitter users quickly began repeating the fake message, then started expressing confusion about whether the message was genuine.

Melissa Boen, whose son goes to Greer Lingle Middle School, stated in e-mail she saw the message shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday.

She told her son. He posted the message on Facebook, where it "spread like wildfire," she said.

She eventually learned that the message was fake.

She said she was extremely angry when she found out the message was fake.

"I would tell whoever did this that it messes with people's schedules, gives false hope to sweet kids and makes it hard to trust any other site," she stated in the e-mail. "It is completely and totally wrong to pretend to be someone else."

Ashley Siwiec, district spokeswoman, said people should check information they see on Twitter, and make sure they are following the district's official account.

"It's fairly easy in the social media world to make a similar account name and impersonate another group," she said.

The district's official account posted a message Monday morning.

"Be aware of impersonators!" the post read. "@RogersSchools is the correct RPS account but please confirm closings at rogersschools.net."

The fake account quickly posted a similar message identifying itself as the legitimate account.

Siwiec said she did not have Monday attendance figures and did not know how many students may have been absent because of the fake post.

She said the district filed a complaint with Twitter in an attempt to have the fake account suspended or canceled.

An e-mail message to Twitter's media representatives was not returned by deadline Monday.

A help page on Twitter's website outlines the service's policy on impersonation. Parody is allowed, but accounts meant to confuse or mislead can be permanently suspended, the site stated.

There was no response to an interview request sent to the fake account.

Hope Argo, a kindergarten teacher at Northside Elementary School, said she was temporarily fooled by the fake message, which she saw reposted by KNWA.

"I myself got a little excited that we would have a snow day," she said.

The real Rogers account had 703 followers as of Monday afternoon. The fake account had 203 followers.

Brook Thomas, news director for KNWA, said that in the process of checking school closures, staff members discovered that the account was fake and notified the school district.

He said he wasn't sure how the media could avoid such communication problems in a fast-paced online environment.

"I'd kind of rather just get a phone call," he said.

Few Problems From Snow

Few actual weather-related problems were reported Monday in Benton County.

Gary Black, public services administrator for Benton County, said Road Department crews were working by 4 a.m. Monday and would work through the night if necessary.

"If it looks like it's going to be bad, we'll be out presanding and salting in areas that we know get bad," he said.

He said the county set out salt barrels in a few well-known trouble spots for motorists who got stuck on hills.

Mike Churchwell, transportation engineer for Bentonville, said the city's snow plows were on standby and ready for action. Trucks were loaded with sand and sand-salt mixtures.

Churchwell said problematic streets are those in the north part of Bentonville because the steep hills can be challenging.

No serious weather-related accidents were reported, according to law enforcement. However, a wrought iron fence at Rogers Cemetery will require repairs as a result of an accident in which snow was a factor, police said.

Police said a pickup driven by Jesus Escobar was traveling north on Eighth Street shortly after 9 a.m., when a vehicle pulled in front of him. Escobar swerved, went through a parking lot and lost control, slamming into the fence and a tree. Seven to nine 8-foot panels will have to be replaced, said Larry Rowe, cemetery manager. No one was injured.

Bob Caudle, Caleb Fort, John Gore, Tom Sissom and Tabatha Hunter contributed to this report.