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Lately the whole Twitter thing has gone spastic as social marketers and more mainstream users have discovered Twitter and scrambled to get on the bandwagon. Now there’s nothing wrong with using Twitter to build great relationships with new and existing friends and business associates, in my humble opinion. However, there are some who take issue with a certain type of Twitter user.
Most folks are pretty responsible with their Twitter usage, but for those who are following WAY more peeps than they have following them, they’re about to be in hot water—of a sort.
A new service called Twitter Blacklist is tracking rogue Twitter accounts using a, “ ‘Follow factor’ (how many they follow divided by how many follow them) . . . ” So if you have too many followees and not enough followers, be careful as you might end up on the list.
There’s also another similar service called Twerpscan that seems a little harsher and is specifically targeting “SEO experts and entrepreneurs” using a similar algorithm to the Twitter Blacklist. This goes a little farther as a service such that you actually log into this one and it offers you a block link.
So a word to the wise—check your ratios and avoid getting on the blacklist. It’s not really hard to avoid if you’re using Twitter as intended. These services are new and may not get much traction, but it’s a reminder that abusing any social system, be it the karaoke mic at your neighborhood bar, or your shiny new Twitter account won’t go unpunished. Opinions? Let’s have ‘em!
May 5th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Good post. thanks for the info.
TeasasTipss last blog post..Mother’s Day Gifts
May 13th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Interesting article. Thanks. You’ve reminded me to give my follow list a good old clear out!
Best wishes
Paula Brett
http://www.Paula-Brett.com/blog
Paula Bretts last blog post..1
May 16th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Funny, I think I saw some of this action earlier, but it seems to have died down slightly. If someone follows me out of the blue these days, I don’t follow back unless I either a) know them, or b) they aren’t just adding me to get me to follow them.
I have no idea why some marketers think that getting something for nothing is a good idea or will even last. Marketing is hard for a reason.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
@TeasasTips Glad it was useful . . .
@Paula Brett thanks for commenting. I posted this sort of as a reminder to myself and as a way to gauge blogger opinion about the whole thing. Appreciate you taking the time to speak your mind.
@Arachne thanks for taking a moment to comment . . . I really posted this as a reminder and note that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, as you were suggesting.
I saw another article recently suggesting that the whole blacklisting thing was possibly overreacting. I figure my “job” is to simply note this sort of stuff as we travel along and let it all pan out and folks can make their own decisions.
Like you, I don’t usually follow someone who follows me unless they say hi at the same time, or they are amazingly interesting in some way
May 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I had heard about this Twitter place but never have tried it. From the sound of it, I am not sure I want to. It really sounds like if you make a mistake, they will punish you for it. Frankly, I think I have been punished enough what with Google dropping my rank to zero for pay blogging and gas prices being what they are….You get the picture.
But thanks for the post. It was very interesting.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I have only just joined Twitter and I will keep an eye out for this! Thanks for the information!
Sarah :: Copywriting, Grammar and Spelling tipss last blog post..Writing - Book Deals
June 7th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I am still grasping the basic concepts of Twitter, so this info is really useful.
Nobody wants to be on the blacklist before they even see any benefit from the social network.
jeflins last blog post..Terrible Day For Dow Jones
June 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Jaz, thanks for commenting, actually I think Twitter is a great opportunity to connect and presents some novel new concepts as far as leveraging social aspects of the web. I would definitely recommend checking it out. I’ll be posting a Twitter resources post soon. Watch for it
Sarah, I think this was a big concern in the beginning, but most people are not too worried now as far as I can tell. It’s good to be aware of though just for the sake of balance and understanding all the angles of the network. Thanks for commenting and look for my next post soon . . .
July 30th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I registered at Twitter, but just really haven’t found a good use for it. I’d rather keep things simple right now:) I’m sure it presents great opportunities for many, but it hasn’t gone out of its way to convince me yet:)
MoneyEnergys last blog post..How Much Diversification is Enough?