Meeting the Fake Steve Jobs aka Dan Lyons

At Thinking Digital 2008 I had the pleasure of meeting the Fake Steve Jobs aka Dan Lyons. Dan gave a hilarious and riveting account of his transition from mild mannered reporter (ok so he’s a senior editor at Forbes magazine, but it’s close enough) to the now infamous force behind the fake diary of Steve Jobs. At 47 Dan has discovered his true calling, and I must say it’s a cautionary tale for the rest of us.

Despite several attempts to make more of his talents inside the corporate environment of Forbes, and failing to persuade his seniors about a transition to online reporting and editorial, Dan struck out on his own and began experimenting with blogging in his spare time.

Inspired by the freedom to write whatever he pleased, in a style to suit his own intellectual level (most US journalists have to cripple their writing style to a very basic reading level,) he began to truly develop a passion for blogging. He confesses to having tried all the major technologies, TypePad, WordPress, and finally Blogger. The idea to parody Steve Jobs was truly inspired. Unfortunately the blogs popularity, whose readership includes Steve Jobs, Scott McNealy and even Bill Gates, triggered an 18 month man hunt to uncover the identity of the Fake Steve.

Instead of losing his job at Forbes, the blog’s popularity, especially amongst the industry’s luminaries, protected him from immediate career death. However the story doesn’t stop there. Dan now tells his story around the world, meeting and greeting his fans and groupies. He continues to work at Forbes, although I suspect he’s more of a thorn in the company’s side, highlighting how staid the editorial is.

Having read his Fake Steve blog on and off for about a year, I couldn’t help but heap praise on Dan. His journey is an interesting one. Clearly he’s a frustrated comedian stuck in a profession he long since fell out of love with. After being found out as the man behind Fake Steve, Dan has sought ideas to make the blog a powerful commercial success. Hopefully he’ll take some of my ideas onboard and start building on top of a great beginning. Isn’t it about time we had a geek comedian?