Twitter obituaries

Mikhail Gorbachev is still alive (Getty Images)

Twitter rumours yesterday of Mikhail Gorbachev's death turned out to be greatly hashtag-erated, and so he joins the list of this year's death hoaxes.

1. Gabriel García Márquez – the Colombian novelist's "demise" was reported by a fake Umberto Eco account.

2. Robin Williams – the actor was said to have fallen to his death while filming in Austria.

3. Cher – a fake CNN retweet "claimed" the life of the singer.

4. Patrick Dempsey – the Grey's Anatomy actor was rumoured to have died in a car crash.

5. Chris Brown – the angry singer's death was reported not only on Twitter, but on YouTube too.