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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

KPRC 2 re-brands controversial Twitter account

It appears KPRC 2 has quietly changed the name of its main news Twitter feed from @local2breaking to @KPRCLocal2 (looks like the change was made late last week since there are still retweets from the old account as of September 7th).

That is a wise move in my opinion. If I were calling the shots at Houston's NBC affiliate, I would have made that same call.

For those who do not know, the now infamous @local2breaking account has had some rough moments. There was some strange stuff being tweeted on that account from what I saw - often in all caps just like a TV script. It was so odd, that it inspired @local2faking. Yes, someone actually took the time to parody a local Houston TV station Twitter account. @local2faking's tweets are usually NSFW by the way.

Fake Twitter accounts aside, nothing brought attention to the station like the fictional Liberty County mass graves story from earlier this summer. It has been widely reported that @local2breaking was the source for that story as fact, leading many other media outlets to run with it and then retract it.

Those two things alone are enough to bring a bad brand name to something. Starting off under a new identity is a good move. We'll have to see if the changes are just cosmetic or if they are editorial too.

In full disclosure, I consulted KPRC on its Facebook pages, but not its Twitter accounts. CONTACT: Leave me a Houston or Texas media news tip | COMMENT: Click to leave your thoughts on this post here