Is This Rob Pattinson Facebook Page a Fake?

There are three easy ways to tell a fake celebrity Facebook page from a real one

I've been seeing some pretty obvious poseurs on Facebook pretending to be celebrities. There's a particularly bad one claiming to be Robert Pattinson, hitting on the girls who add him. Do you know of any place the fans can go to check if a Facebook page is legit?
—Shonna

A Facebook page owned by a "Rob T Pattz" who hits on every chick who passes through, and that supposedly represents one of the most hotly desired actors on earth? And you thought it might be fake? Gee, what gave it away?

As you've already deduced, I can guarantee, 200 percent, that the page is fake. In fact, I can guarantee that every single Rob Pattinson profile is also a fake.

How? Well...

...because I called Pattinson's manager today, and the person who picked up the phone told me that the actor—who, to be fair, possesses many other impressive communication tools, including hair that can pick up radio waves from Neptune—is not on Facebook. At all.

But what about other sites? How to know whether this innocuous-looking profile for this here Project Runway contestant is legit? (It is.) Well, there's no one place you can go to confirm that, but there are telltale signs of fakedom.

Here they are, courtesy of Brandee Barker, a spokeswoman for Facebook.

1. Is the person adding many, many friends very rapidly? A certain type of friend? Like, say, women? "Celebrities that are in fact managing their own profiles usually have a more diverse fan base," Barker says.

2. Check out the photos. "Are they personal photos taken by the celebrity behind the scenes, or are they all photos you could pull off the Web from anywhere?"

3. Lastly, there's the Facebook team themselves. If you suspect a page is fake, it violates company rules. Click the "report" button on the suspicious profile. That sends a red flag to Facebook staff, who will then examine the profile and reach out to a star's publicist to determine authenticity. If the page disappears after a week or two, you know it ain't legit.

Here are a couple pages that are definitely bona fide: Mine. Are you my fan yet?

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