Social Media's "Knucklehead Of The Year"

As many people know, Hurricane Sandy struck our East Coast last week pretty hard. States suffered power outages, horrible weather, and damage. While checking out updates on the conditions of Hurricane Sandy, I kept reading about this infamous "fake account" called, @ComfortablySmug. 

Apparently, this Twitter account began circulating fake images and completely false reports about New York City's standing during the hurricane. 

This image can be found on CNN.com

Some tweets I read are as follows: 

• BREAKING:Soon we will all be dead, and you will wonder why you spent time typing out 140 char messages instead of calling your mother who loves you
• BREAKING: Governor Cuomo is trapped in Manhattan. Has been taken to a secure shelter
• BREAKING: Coney Island Hopstial Is On Fire http://t.co/Kr3LoPjq

These are only a few tweets @ComfortablySmug tweeted that was sent out and retweeted by thousands of users. The account eventually gained a following of over 6,800 users--some from across the world. Not only did this account create panic in many users across the world, but it also created a lot of attention I don't think the user intended on having originally. 

Want to know the kicker of this whole thing? 

It was just reported that Shashank Tripathi is the author of the tweets and account. Who is Shashank Tripathi? Well, he is campaign manager of Christopher R. Wight, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House from New York's 12th Congressional District for this year's election (ouch). After this report was released, the account immediately sent a tweet issuing an apology to New York citizens. 

Courtesy of BBC news 

I went back and checked the account today and it is still up, but hasn't tweeted anything since the apology--and of course, I had to figure out what happened to Mr. Tripathi...

He resigned! Of course he did, what did I expect to happen? 

I knew social media could ruin careers if used incorrectly, but it still baffles me that an "anonymous" Twitter account could cause so much chaos. Not only that, but it amazes me that nothing on social media is technically "anonymous" anymore. 

I think it is completely crazy and baffling at the same time! 

What do you guys think of anonymous Twitter accounts?