Twitter. Reputation. You.
Joining the Twitter Community
I opened my Twitter account (Twitter.com/newthoughts) earlier this month (January, 2009) and dedicated my first couple days as a member of the Twitter community to learning not just the technical aspects of using Twitter, but also observing how others use this service for personal and professional purposes, and the community etiquette.
During my first six days, I devoted two hours daily to posting what I thought would be valuable to community members, responding to others, and following others.
I followed 100% of the Tweeters who followed me, with the exception of those accounts that were brand new, without a picture, and were – by all indications – obviously established by spammers or phishers.
As a result, my “followers” list reached 1000 during my sixth day on Twitter.
One of my most early followers was an account that seemed to just appear from outer space, as many of my followers did. I didn’t know them from Adam – which was wonderful! I was discovering a whole new community of people who were also discovering me. People I didn’t know or have any prior relationship were “following” me, some for no apparent reason other than to get me to follow them, although I just acted like they all would WANT to know me once they got the chance. haha!
During the next few days, I shortened my time on Twitter, and so my “followers’ list grew more slowly, accordingly.
This article refers to one specific Twitter account that became my follower in the early days of my presence on Twitter. As of June 21, 2009, I have reason to believe that the account that is the basis for this article has since apparently proven to have been “hijacked” by an impersonator, who hacked into that account and used it to go on a rant. But what the rants were about did, indeed, seem to be happening. So this article is about the CIRCUMSTANCES and the outcome, and refers to “The Ranter” (apparently not the original account holder).
An Unexpected Turn of Events
One afternoon within a week or so of creating my Twitter account, I logged into my account and POOF, far in excess of 100 of my followers were GONE!
I knew it wasn’t because 15% or more of my followers were conspiring against me, so I immediately asked (via a Tweet) if I was the only one to whom this was happening.
Within moments I received numerous replies – some private and some posted as public to the Twitter community – that I wasn’t the only one.
Within minutes of that, a couple well-respected members of the Twitter community Tweeted some VERY GOOD news: Twitter was doing some “house cleaning,” removing spam and phishing accounts.
And when those accounts were removed by Twitter, they disappeared as followers on everyone’s account that they had “followed.”
WOW! Twitter was doing MY WORK for me. “Cleaning out the trash” as it were, and opening those follower spaces to more legitimate followers.
I also realized that many – if not most – of the “followers” I had lost were the very same accounts that I had chosen to NOT follow after they had followed me and I then checked their Twitter profile and determined them to be spamming and phishing accounts.
The Melt-Down
Back to the moment I checked in and found those followers “gone” from my list, before I knew why…
Within minutes of MY discovery that I had lost so many followers I received the first in the series of rants by a Twitter account holder who – as I previously stated – was later found to be impersonating someone, which is truly a shame. But the rants that came from that account is worthy of note.
So what you’re about to read is a case-study of the situation, (regardless of who perpetrated what happened.)
Instead of asking others if they knew what was happening, or checking around to find out why, this account holder seemed to be immediately presuming that HIS account (although I don’t know for sure, I believe that the account holder was male) was being personally targeted. He came out of the gate blaming everybody and their mother – including, of course, the Twitter staff and their programming algorithms – for this “very bad thing” that was happening to him/her.
To make it worse, he continued his constant rants (documented and commented upon by Pete Cashmore at the Mashable Web site), getting in deeper and deeper, WELL AFTER there were many public Tweets (including me ReTweeting several times as new account holders came online during the next six hours or so and discovered that their followers had decreased and wondered why) about how Twitter was doing housecleaning.
This account holder seemed to “know his numbers,” claiming that “only 0.58%” of the followers who were deleted were “spam,” and that the remaining 14% that got deleted were valid followers. Interestingly, however, with only about 1,200 followers, I “lost” between 14% and 15% of my followers as a result of Twitter’s housecleaning.
Sure. losing a couple hundred followers may not have felt as painful as loosing a few thousand, but proportionally the “hit” was the same. Hmmmmmm…
Everything Is a Matter of Perspective
For the most part, the unexpected loss of a noticeable number of followers resulted, for many people, first in curiosity, then in understanding and acceptance, and finally (for some, like me and some others who Tweeted on the subject) joy in having Twitter do my cleaning work for me – whether they got it 100% accurate or not.
Everything is a matter of perspective.
And everything is a matter of how anyone responds or reacts INSIDE, and then displays his or her emotions, thoughts, feelings and beliefs outwardly.
That (apparent) Twitter account holder got upset, made assumptions, blamed and ranted.
I – and many others – got curious, sought more information, got our answer and then moved on. Not everyone liked what happened. Some were indifferent. Some, like me, kinda liked it. But that particular account holder stood out like a sore thumb.
Perhaps that account holder will be “vindicated” and we will learn that somehow or another Twitter deleted legitimate followers from his account. (Update 06.21.09 – I don’t believe that this will ever be revealed one way or another.)
But if my experience to date is any indication, 90% of my followers are followers I neither “earned” nor “deserve,” if the qualification is that they know, like and trust me PRIOR to following me.
I presume that they follow me either out of self-interest in getting me to follow them back (a strategy about which people’s opinions vary from loving to hating), or because they legitimately want to know more about me, and following me on Twitter provides them an opportunity to do so that they might not otherwise have.
I Can’t Control What I Don’t Have Control Over. So I Take Charge of What I CAN Control.
And I recognize that legally, and practically, my Twitter account is NOT mine. It doesn’t belong to me.Twitter owns it.
I hope that Twitter treats me – and all users – responsibly, and ethically.
But I recognize that Twitter could come crashing down tomorrow. So I don’t put all my eggs in the Twitter basket.
I also recognize that Twitter is a business. It’s aim is to do good not only on behalf of its users, but also on its own behalf. It would be wonderful if there was a competent person personally evaluating every new account to determine if it’s legitimate or a spamming/phising account. But that’s impossible, with the swift growth of new sign-ups.
So while I wish that their software algorithms were perfect, and only ever deleted spam/phishing accounts and always left the legitimate accounts, I know that this isn’t possible. Sometimes, they’re going to delete a legitimate account, for no apparent reason. And while we all wish that would never happen, we’d be kidding ourselves if we think it never will.
So I’m aware that Twitter could shut my account down for any reason – “understandable” or not – at any moment.
It’s a risk I’m willing to take, even though it’s a price I’d prefer NOT to pay.
But if my account goes away unexpectedly, I’m prepared to do whatever I do next, without need to rant and blame everybody else, no matter how “painful.” I’m prepared to do without Twitter if need be. Doesn’t mean I’ll like it, but I’ve come in knowing that it’s valuable to have a variety of exit strategies based on a variety of possible easily anticipated AND unanticipated events.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll stand idly by if my account is closed for no apparent reason, or if I lose a significant number of followers when others don’t. I’d probably want to have my account or followers reinstated, if Twitter was still serving me and my ability to learn from and serve others at that time.
But “loss” is a price everyone is pays in every area of his or her life, and if you’re not prepared to accept that it often comes in undesirable and unexpected ways, then you’re going to find yourself angry and upset, justifying and blaming, instead of rolling with the flow and taking action in a loving, respectful way to rectify the situation or move on.
The Price Paid
It’s a shame that the legitimate account holder ended up having his account hijacked, and losing what he had worked hard to create.
Still, the loss of followers due to Twitter’s house-cleaning is a loss of what none of us legitimately “own” in the first place:
1: The vast majority of many Twitter account followers become followers often mostly out of curiosity or a desire to get that account holder to follow them, and are not likely earned by the account holder by those followers prior knowledge about or trust in them; and
2: Any Twitter account as a whole is owned by Twitter, Inc., who respects account owner’s individual intellectual property ownership, but not account holders’ ownership of the account itself.
The original account holder would likely have lost 4,000 followers as a result of Twitter’s “house-cleaning” – or even as a result of a Twitter “error,” but when Twitter closed down the account to the tune of 20,000 followers, it appeared at the time to be as a result if the assumptions, reactions, public rants and raves, blaming, demanding and criticizing that was coming from that account (Again, apparently the “ranter” was not the legitimate account holder, and it’s possible that Twitter shut down the account because they learned it had been (unfortunately) hijacked.)
What Can Be Learned from Twitter and “The Ranter’s” Melt-Down”
To repeat: It appears that the original account holder was NOT “The Ranter.” So what can be learned from this has do with “The Ranter,” and not the original account holder.” We don’t have to be Twitter account hijackers to have something that happens to us set us off, become angry and upset, and want to lash out. But it’s a good idea to think about that BEFORE doing something that you’ll regret later.
- Don’t bemoan the loss of something that wasn’t yours to begin with, no matter how much hard work you put into creating it, and no matter how much you wish it WAS yours, or wish that others thought the same way you did about it.
- When something undesirable happens – especially unexpectedly – take a deep breath FIRST. Then begin an inquiry, and only after you have collected enough data, take appropriate action.
- Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. But ranting and raving, blaming and complaining, and – especially – belittling others will ONLY ever result in one thing – loss of relationships, Ultimately, you may get something you think you wanted, but at what cost? For example, the legitimate account holder might have been able to get his deleted followers or his Twitter account back (if that’s what he wanted), but I, for one, wouldn’t follow him any longer. And my guess is that I’m very much like the many others, who wouldn’t follow him either. Even as the unfortunate result of being hijacked, that particular account lost its community standing, its credibility and the willingness of others to interact with and support it – EVEN IF THE RANTS ABOUT TWITTER WERE “RIGHT.” Out of the personal growth movement (attributed first to Werner Erhardt, but likely originating from a more obscure source) came the saying: “Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?” It’s your choice.
- Don’t assume when something happens to you that someone else is deliberately targeting you. That MAY be the case. But in more instances than not, there’s another explanation. Seek clarification before jumping to conclusions.
- Have an “exit strategy” for anything you enter into – or already doing – that takes into account outcomes and events that can and can’t be anticipated. Nobody likes a loss. But it’s far worse to experience a loss for which you think or feel you have no options than it is to suffer a loss from which you have a strategy to recover.
- It takes a lifetime to build credibility and trust. It takes a moment to destroy it. Everything you do or say, positive or negative, WILL – eventually or quickly – come back to you. You must be constantly vigilant and discerning about what you say and do, in whose company, in what circumstances. Err on the side of caution, if you want to maintain your positive reputation.
I’d Love Your Feedback!
I’m sure you’ve got thoughts, feelings, opinions and questions about what I’ve written. I encourage you to comment at JayAaron.com/twitter-reputation-you
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Jay Aaron
Strategic Visionary / Visionary Strategist
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/newthoughts
Web site: http://JayAaron.com
All Contents International Copyright 2009 Jay Aaron. All International Rights Reserved.
The Author grants reprint permission without further inquiry only to those who provide proper Copyright credit and include a link to http://Jay Aaron.com
Tags: astrospace, exit strategy, Jay Aaron, melt-down, Personal Success, Professional Success, reputation, Success Principles, Twitter
