HI-JACKING TWITTER POSTS: AN INTRO TO OUR UPCOMING TEACHING DISCUSSION

Twitter popularity was accelerated by celebrities.

Most of the posts, for a long time, were vanity, verbal selfies. Then a number of incidents separate from the celebrity culture put Twitter on the legitimate news radar. How? One happened in 2010. Former American Idolcontestant Elliott Yamin was caught in the Chile earthquake and so he posted on his Twitterpage:

“Huge earthquake just now in Chile!” Yamin then continued to give the most current information to the world, including the journalism empires, what was happening.

“Huge earthquake just now in Chile!!….I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!”

“Complete and utter choas on the streets…no power…my heart is beatin outta my chest!….tsunami warnin…I am only a mile inland!”

“Hey everybody…we r totally safe and sound 4 the time being…I’m finally calmer,and dawn is approaching,which will help!..thx 4 ur prayers.”

“So…1 min, I’m trashin this competition on twitter, the next,I’m runnin 4 my life 2 safety!…what a contrast!…I hope & pray yall are ok!”

So how could such a valuable service be hi-jacked? Easy. Someone can reply to his tweets (and it is done) for their own benefit. Or key words can have a #hashtag and then every comment will be traced. ie: #YamminEarthquake EVEN IF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH Yammin or the earthquake.

Yes, Twitter has a safety net to deal with such blatant usurpation of an account. Your twitter account will be cancelled. However, many of the new social marketing acceleration companies are basically using the pyramid marketing business (?!) model to generate a twitter following. The reported”following” is not an accurate assessment of appropriate people for your business or marketing venture. The accounts are fictional. They then charge you a fee to post the tweets you write on their own and other paying accounts. None of which will actually generate a large flow of local activity.

Having said this, local and regional Tweeting does have value if it is used to give a quick overview of news and events. Twitter is rapidly becoming an easy means to promote, because the post has a unique .url which can be inserted in other mediums.

Please come to our teaching discussion, our seminar, on March 26th in Burbank where we will discuss “Selling Your Name” and the attributes of Social Media for self-marketing, Media Hubs, Twitter, Facebook and how to successfully direct your online presence.

Best of Times Antiques 3401 Magnolia, Burbank 4pm – 6pm  Thursday March 26 2015  Tickets $20