| Popular » |
 Botched Debate
|
AdWords Case Funny
|
Death By Blogging
|
Wikipedia Rant
|
Craigslist Money
|
Link Bartering
|
Knowing the value of a web-celeb's Twitter account will have to be on hold. Andrew Baron, founder of the well-known video podcast Rocketboom, placed his name-brand account up for sale on eBay last week, but has since deleted the auction listing.
Andrew Baron, Creator of RocketboomDespite eBay's own issues with the auction, reports say Baron had concerns over potentially spammy prospectors using his account to bombard his now 1,700-plus followers with marketing messages. If you were keeping tabs on the auction, at the time of deletion the highest bid equated to a bit over a dollar per follower, all of whom would be likely to un-follow as soon as they found out they were being targeted.
Add to that whom he follows, though, and you have around 3,000 eyeballs, which makes a message the price of a stamp.
Though no one is certain how successful a spam campaign would be on Twitter anyway, it makes one wonder if a person's followers are worth that dollar amount, and what Baron's particular list would accomplish beyond what automated scripts other Twitterers appear to be using would.
Over the past few days, Baron tweeted plans to delete his auction listing before eBay called to inform him of their new digital product policies, which required him to move the listing to another part of the site. Some had wondered if the sale would be a violation of eBay's terms of service. Craigslist, after all, had deleted a similar listing.
"There are only 8 documented cases of 'I got a call from ebay' on Google," Baron humorously tweets. Now there are nine, the second result from Baron's Twitter account, which sort of raises a whole other issue surrounding Twitter's value.
Other, more recent tweets are cryptic, suggesting perhaps there is another deal in the works to hammered out this weekend. The mystery and weirdness surrounding the issue have led critics to accuse Baron of staging a kind of publicity stunt. When WebProNews asked him, though, he denied it. "I would say it's not at all a stunt," he said.
SEO Step Six of Ten: Social MediaeBay Boycott Having Minimal EffectSeller Boycott Fails To Impress eBayWhat's The Point Of Twitter? eBay To Move To PayPal Only In Australia SES New York: Successful Tactics for Social Media OptimizationResources for New Media and Social Media PRLet's Be Honest About TwitterHow Much of a Distraction is Social Media?Twitter Account And Googleplex Tour On eBay
Comments
Twit 2
Probably should have said I'm not really into SMS either, just use it when people aren't answering or when I believe they are in a meeting, working (and it's personal) or sleeping.
Twit
While I love technology, and I greatly appreciate blogs & forums, I have great difficulty in appreciating Twitter. But like a lot of songs these days with limited lyrics, I suppose it's the way things are going. I do wonder if somebody will start a Twit, where you just put a single word?
twitter tos
I see some changes to the twitter TOS coming to a store near you ;-)
Dont care either way
I dont see a problem with it, but surely he would take a knock to his personal reputation for doing it?
Should People Be Allowed To Sell Their Twitter Account?
I can see both good and bad in this. Whereas people probably should be allowed the freedom to do so if they choose, I would say 'Buyer Beware' as many followers would probably just block anyone that they didn't know, didn't like, or that just started to send them spam.
Can't wait to find out what Twitter's take on this will be. In the meantime, as they say "there is no Bad publicity" so Twitter should see a definite increase in traffic as well as members :0)
All my respect for this way
All my respect for this way to increase the price! Such advertising campaign!!!
Efficient?
I can't imagine that buying a twitter account would be effective at all. For the most part the people I follow, I follow because they're either friends or people that I'd like to know what they're doing. As soon as Andrew sold his account I think most people would lose interest in following him, regardless of if it was a spammy user or just a regular person.
Post new comment