The "£500 pcm bed under the stairs" story is probably just marketing

Want to know why social media verification skills are so important? Well, take a look at this tweet, which has been the basis for dozens of stories in the media this morning:

https://twitter.com/alex_lomax/status/649146213242175488

Crazy, huh?

But what happens if you start looking into the few facts you have?

Why would someone suddenly set their LinkedIn profile private, while simultaneously soliciting newspapers to cover a story from their Twitter account?

And:

Within 40 miles of Westminster, there is only one ad on the entire site from a private landlord. That ad is the one in question. In other words, across the whole of London, there is a single private landlord ad on the site, and that ad happens to be the one that’s gone viral.

Nothing’s certain, but right now it looks like the the BBC, Sky, and many others have fallen for a viral marketing campaign. The Independent has pulled its story, and The Telegraph is acknowedging that there’s no proof to it.

Caveat aggregator…