So when is for-realsies not for-realsies? Well, according to new online storytellers, it’s when it’s announced that it’s not. But for readers and viewers? Not so much.

At last week’s CaseCamp, we were introduced to Story2Oh!, whose creator introduced a series of characters that lived on facebook and twitter, had their own blogs, and added rather frequent video entries to their online lives. The problem? They weren’t introduced to readers as fake.

This week, we learned about Heidi Cee, a tragic girl who had her beloved Coach bag stolen. Heidi put posters up around New York in a desperate attempt to get her bag back, and said posters featured her myspace page, facebook profile info, and blog. But wait! Heidi is a character, created by a PR class and funded to the tune of a $10K grant from Coach.

So. Where does the real end and the fake begin? No doubt about it, characters who live online are inherently appealing. It’s a fun concept and users would no doubt engage heavily in playing with this kind of space. But no doubt about it x 2, the feeling of being duped is not the kind of feeling you want associated with your brand.

I had asked the Story2Oh! folks about their business model, but they’re more interested in the art component of things right now – totally fair – though since their announcement, their characters were busted on facebook and they’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of heavy emotion via blog commentary, speaking often to a sense of betrayal. The PR class, on the other hand, most definitively took an approach that created a void in the economics of trust by adding a corporate sponsorship.

So again: where does the real end and the fake begin in a way that consumers can not only understand – transparency is clearly paramount – but believe in?