Social media kills 'Home Alone' actor Macaulay Culkin

Social media is increasingly taking the space of breaking news and our instant source of reporting.

But if Twitter, Facebook and Instagram users want to be a news provider it should start acting like a responsible source.

But often we find these 'news' we read on social media are cooked up by a bored teenager with a blog.

For instant - news that 'Home Alone' star Macaulay Culkin is dead.

Well, if this is true than Macaulay Culkin will be dead for the second time this year. The actor is a victim of 'celebrity death hoax'.

A story from a little-known website about Culkin's death somehow went viral on social media, convincing millions around the world that their favourite star has died.

Macaulay Culkin is very much alive, but he had to take to social media to remind everyone after rumours he was dead spread over the weekend.

A fake Facebook memorial page was set up on November 6, according to Snopes, claiming the 'Home Alone' star had died.

The hoaxers wrote on the fake memorial page:

"At about 11am ET on Friday (November 7, 2014), our beloved actor Macaulay Culkin passed away. Macaulay Culkin was born on August 26, 1980 in New York. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page."

The page was taken down shortly after, but not before it had fooled hundreds of thousands of people into thinking the 34-year-old was dead.

Condolences poured in from irreverent Twitter users. One post read, "Macauley Culkin has passed away, this can't be true. He made my childhood."

Culkin's representatives released a statement to confirm the star is still alive.

Culkin, who plays in a band called the 'Pizza Underground', decided to address the rumours in a more lighthearted manner.

A photograph posted on the band's Instagram shows a smiling Culkin holding a bottle of soft drink, captioned "We're on tour you silly people".

Clearly having some fun with the hoax, the band posted a number of images to remind fans that Culkin is definitely still alive.

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