Are my online friends for real?

BBC News article asks the question: Are my online friends for real? It seems that online impostors are not unknown - and this includes impostors for hire:

He wrote: "I met somebody the other day who told me that online networking was so important, and he didn't have the time, he was paying somebody to be him online. To blog, network, post etc. £1,000 a month too.

"Apparently it's a new occupation which he reckons already numbers hundreds of people, paid to be other people!"