Let's Figure Out Who Created the Condé Nast Elevator Twitter Account
Who is behind hot new Twitter account @CondeElevator, which tweets supposedly overheard conversations from the likes of Anna Wintour, and accrued 32,000 followers in mere days? Gatecrasher says it's a Teen Vogue employee. Business Insider says the culprit is "about to get unmasked." ABC News says "it could be anyone." Update: And that it's "coming from one or more people at a '4-16' magazine, meaning, a title located between the fourth and 16th floors of Condé Nast,"for a fact."
We don't know who's behind @CondeElevator, or if any of it is even slightly real. (Even Nasties aren't that interesting in elevators, are they?) But a good starting point would be to look at its first followers, no? According to Twitter's records, these were the first 15:
- 1. Devin Gordon, @Devingo913, "Senior Editor, GQ Magazine"
- 2. Lauren Bans, @LaurenBans, "Associate Editor at GQ"
- 3. Joe Coscarelli, @JoeCoscarelli, Assistant Editor at New York's Daily Intel
- 4. Bobbie Gossage, @BobbieGossage, "an editor at Inc. Magazine"
- 5. Zeke Turner, @ZekeFT, "Media Reporter at WWD"
- 6. Jen Doll, @ThisIsJenDoll, editor of Village Voice's Runnin' Scared
- 7. @mbeazy13, mystery person
- 8. Mark Lotto, @marklotto, "Senior Editor, GQ"
- 9. Dan D'Addario, @DPD_, "staff writer at the New York Observer"
- 10. Angela Wu, @angelawutweet, "Journalist and college student @Princeton"
- 11. Alex Pappademas, @Papademas, ex-GQ writer, now at NYT Magazine
- 12. Alex Cook, alxxcook, mystery person Update: He just just emailed a bio.
Alex Cook is a 24 year-old, fabulous New Yorker. His academic creds include American Boychoir Class of 2001 (that's me on the website, scroll down!), The McCallie School class of 2005 (no link, high school was totally hard for everyone, ok?). Dartmouth Class of 2009 (omgcampusceleb). Just finished two years of back-breaking, soul curdling investment banking and now doing global strategy at the best.
- He does not work at Teen Vogue.
- 13. Erica, @Ericasles, mystery person
- 14. Alex Carlin, @AlexCarlin, "Heart Magazines PR"
- 15. Janessa Hilliard, @JanessaHilliard, a "freelance writer" who lives in Phoenix
Three GQ editors, several people with GQ ties, a bunch of media reporters, and not a Teen Vogue employee in sight. (That we know of.) We asked a few of these people how they discovered @CondeElevator. Some said @CondeElevator followed them first. Two cited early RT's, but couldn't (or wouldn't) remember who did it. Do you know? Email me, or postulate in the comments.
Anyway, my guess is either a 12-year-old girl in Nebraska, child star Russian immigrants, the teenage boy from Ugly Betty, or Conde Nast PR, which is having a field day with vaguely pleased statements: "It certainly suggests that many people care a great deal about what happens at Conde Nast." That's the kind of buzz you can't buy. Unless you pay off a 6th grader from Omaha. [@CondeElevator, image via 20th Century Fox]
