The Man Behind Horse_Ebooks Finally Acknowledges His Creation
When I tracked down Alexey Kuznetsov, the reclusive Russian web designer behind the cult favorite Twitter spambot Horse_ebooks, he wouldn't comment on his strange creation, refusing even to speak to me for the article in February. But now he's finally laid claim to Horse_ebooks, in a roundabout way.
Above is the logo for Kuznetsov's new web design firm, LITE webdesign. It's a sly reference to Horse_ebooks: a stylized version of the Horse_ebooks' own Twitter avatar. The LITE Web Design site also includes a link to Horse_ebooks' Twitter account and a New York Times blog post on the account: "As seen on the New York Times and Gawker blogs. The Lite WebDesign team makes the news."
Now that Kuznetsov is becoming more comfortable with Horse_ebooks' notoriety, hopefully he can explain some of its secrets, for instance how much of Horse_ebooks is human-powered versus algorithmically-driven? If you're reading this, Alexey, drop us a line.
In the meantime, Horse_ebooks, whose follower count has climbed to 71,000, spams on:
My job kept me stressed out and I wanted a relaxing aquarium to come home to at
— Horse ebooks (@Horse_ebooks) May 14, 2012