News Analysis: Unraveling Brothers’ Online Lives, Link by Link

The Boston Marathon bombings quickly turned into an Internet mystery that sent a horde of amateur sleuths surging onto the Web in a search for clues to the suspects’ identity. And once the search focused on Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the brothers’ social media postings provided a rich vein of material to mine and sift.

There are more than a thousand messages on Dzhokhar’s Twitter account in addition to a profile page on VKontakte, a popular Russian social networking site, and in Tamerlan’s case, a list of favorite videos on YouTube and what appears to be an Amazon wish list belonging to him (Amazon would not confirm whose list it was, citing its privacy policy.)

These posts instantly became dots that people began trying to connect. Some details ratified the views of those former friends and neighbors who said they were utterly shocked at the brothers’ possible involvement in such a horrifying crime. Other posts pointed to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s growing interest in Islamic radicalism and possibly a dark subtext to the friendly, boy-next-door affect of Dzhokhar.

At the same time, they were reminders of the complexities of online identity — of the ways in which people strike poses and don masks on the Web (which can sometimes turn into self-fulfilling prophecies), and the ways in which the Web can magnify or accelerate users’ interests and preoccupations.

The younger brother, Dzhokhar, in particular, seemed utterly immersed in American pop culture, and concerned with the sorts of things that preoccupy many young men — girls (“miss u.s.a. is so sexy”) and good times (“I am the best beer pong player in Cambridge. I am the #truth”). In fact, much of his Twitter feed is distinctive only in its ordinariness — ordinariness that stands in such startling contrast to the horror of what happened last week in Boston.

There are lots of references to musicians like Chris Brown, Jay-Z and Michael Jackson; television shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones,” and movies like “Spider-Man” and “Finding Nemo.” He prattles away about Nutella and Frosted Flakes, complains about typos and losing his remote. “Pop-up adds are the worst, on par with mosquitoes,” he tweets on June 17, 2012.

Given the layers of irony, sarcasm and joking often employed on Twitter, it can be difficult to parse the messages of a stranger. Yet some of them can seem menacing or portentous, given what we now suspect: “a decade in america already, I want out,” “Never underestimate the rebel with a cause” or, drawing from lyrics from a Kendrick Lamar song, “No one is really violent until they’re with the homies.” But others suggest a more Holden Caulfield-like adolescent alienation: “some people are just misunderstood by the world thus the increase of suicide rates.” Sometimes, Dzhokhar sounds downright sentimental (unless, of course, he is being ironic): “There are enough worms for all the birds stop killing each other for ‘em.”

Parts of Dzhokhar’s VKontakte page are harsher and more serious. Under personal priority, it says “Career and money.” Under worldview, it says “Islam.” There is a link to a video indicating outrage at the violence in Syria, and a link to an Islamic Web site that says “And do good, for Allah loves those who do good.” Another video features a blind boy talking to an older man, saying he believes his blindness will be absolved on Judgment Day; the man starts to cry, and wonders how many people who have their sight are as committed to the study of the Koran as the boy.

Other posts on Dzhokhar’s page have a more sardonic edge. There is a link to a self-described “journal of sarcasm” called “Evil Corporation” (featuring a logo reminiscent of Angry Birds) and also a joke that goes like this: “A car goes by with a Chechen, a Dagestani and an Ingush inside. Question: Who is driving?” Answer: The police.

Finn Cohen contributed reporting from New York, and Andrew E. Kramer from Moscow.

Winklevoss Brothers Move On From Facebook

“Our business isn’t to be famous: that’s not what we do, that’s not what we strive for,” said Tyler, who is slightly — if you look closely — broader-jowled and a hair more assertive. “But we’re not shy or have a phobia about it,” adding, “We’ll be friendly if people are friendly back.”

Cameron concurs. “Every time someone has come up to us, they’ve always been incredibly positive and almost overly effusive, in the sense that ‘I totally support you guys,’ almost to point that I’m like, ‘Hey, hey, chill out,’ ” he said. “Everyone else gets so much more emotional about it I think than we ever have.”

The “it” in question, of course, is the twisty tale of Facebook, a small Harvard-based start-up founded in 2004 that went on to become a multibillion-dollar business in the hands of a founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

As every viewer of the 2010 hit film “The Social Network” knows, that business triumph occurred without the Winklevoss twins, prompting their furious accusations that Mr. Zuckerberg had appropriated their idea for the site.

Their characters were indelibly portrayed as dumbfounded children of privilege: genetically and financially blessed, they strode into the office of the Harvard president, demanding Mr. Zuckerberg’s censure (although Mr. Zuckerberg, it must be said, came off as even more unappealing in the film). The final image of the brothers was one in which they narrowly lost not only a big rowing race in Britain, but control of the company, leaving them angry (“Let’s gut the frigging nerd,” Cameron’s character says) but, ultimately, just a side note in the Facebook story.

For most people, their story ended where that scene ended, and the Winklevii, as they were memorably referred to, were all but forgotten. In the years that followed, the two went on to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games, coming in sixth in Beijing, and engaged in a protracted legal battle with Mr. Zuckerberg and others. After being awarded at least $65 million in 2008, they went back to court to ask for more, but eventually abandoned their attempts.

“We gave it our best shot,” said Tyler, now 31. “And when we felt we had come to the end of the road, it was over and on to the next thing.” But if revenge is a dish — like a lobster roll — best served cold, then the Winklevii are feasting. The twins are more active than ever: financing start-ups, hosting political fund-raisers, and even poking fun at their own image in a television commercial.

Last year, their company, Winklevoss Capital, began working as what they call “angel accelerators” for the shopping Web site Hukkster and a financial-data-and-dish company called SumZero. Divya Narendra, the founder of SumZero, met the twins at Harvard, and was eventually a co-plaintiff against Facebook.

Mr. Narendra, who was also depicted in the movie — “I was played by a guy who looked nothing like me” — said that the twins had adapted to their celebrity in typically low-key fashion. “I think part of them enjoys the fame, and I’m sure part of them is probably annoyed by it at times,” he said. “It’s hard for me to put myself in their shoes, because I don’t attract that kind of attention. Nobody would recognize me on the street. But people do stop them.”

Indeed, they’ve recently been sighted clubbing in SoHo, rubbing elbows at Fashion Week and being trailed onto the subway by the British paparazzi (“After failing to find taxi to pick them up,” The Daily Mail breathlessly reported). In December, the twins, who live in Los Angeles and New York, hosted a high-profile fund-raiser at their sleek 8,000-square-foot pad in the Hollywood Hills for the Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti. In New York, they have backed Daniel L. Squadron, a New York State Senator who represents a chunk of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, in a potential bid for public advocate.

They touted Hukkster on the “Today” show last fall, and shortly after dropping their legal challenge in June 2011, they appeared in an advertisement — which they say they helped write — for Wonderful Pistachios, a spot that took a none-too-subtle swipe at Mr. Zuckerberg, with one brother mentioning that deshelled nuts were “a good idea,” and the other suggesting that someone might steal it.

“Who’d do that?” the Winklevii quipped, before an M.C. announced, “The Winklevoss twins do it cautiously.”