You're Using Twitter (Whether You Like It Or Not)

[Hesaidblissfully]

I stumbled across this article on Problogger.net which brings up an interesting point about social media sites like Twitter.

When Seth Godin isn’t Seth Godin

Seth Godin (he of Purple Cow and Squidoo fame) had, as of the time of the article being written, over 1400 Twitter followers. Most of those followers were presumably people who admired Mr. Godin and wanted a venue to interact with him. The only thing is that Seth Godin wasn't using Twitter.

Apparently someone had set up an account in Seth's name and was using it to disseminate his blog posts to people following him on Twitter. Fortunately, the person behind the fake Seth account appeared to only be using it for this purpose, so in a sense, it was free publicity.

The bigger point is that anyone could open an account in your name on Twitter or other social media sites, pose as you, and do things that could be detrimental to your reputation, whether it be spamming people, giving out inaccurate advice or just generally being a douchebag.

(Mentioned in the article was the fact that even though the faker wasn't doing anything inherently malicious, some of Seth's unsuspecting followers were put off by the fact that "he" wouldn't ever reply to anything they said and only seemed interested in promoting his blog posts.)

I'm not sure what legal actions might apply if you caught someone posing as you online (I'd imagine you could send the offender a cease and desist letter or have the site shut their account down?), but if your social media brand is important to you, and especially if you're fairly well known, you may want to consider opening an account in your name, before someone else does.

Your thoughts?

[grumpyjacksa]

must b a scary thought for those who have long standing reputations.......

imagine what a disgruntled customer could do to your income......

[BIG Mike]

While it's certainly possible to have your name exploited on Social Media sites, I think that they would close the account (or turn it over to you) once you advised them of it and provided evidence that they were damaging your reputation.

For example, a year or so back, someone was impersonating me here to intentionally damage my reputation. It didn't take members long to figure out that the person's behavior and comments were nothing like my own and so he or she got booted - no real harm done.

Unfortunately, despite all the cool online services out there, you're always faced with someone willing to exploit them to be harmful. Aside from any criminal issues that might arise from it, when the exploitation is done for commercial purposes, then you do have other recourse.

If it ever should happen to you, I'd advise consulting with a lawyer and going forward based on professional advice.

[Kevin Riley]

I had someone set up a fake KevinRiley Twitter account (using a capital "i" instead of a small "L" in "Riley"). I contacted Twitter and they took the account away and put it in my control. They're pretty good about that kind of stuff.

[Qbiz]

Thanks for raising this issue. I'll take up the advice as it appears to be all too easy for some miscreants to wreak havoc on these social sites through impersonation.

Regards

George

[Anthony Robinson]

The same holds true for Facebook, you can search any celebrities name and see a ton of fake pages - so you may want to check there as well. Fortunately, no one would claim to be me who isn't so I don't have these "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" issues.

[Hesaidblissfully]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

I had someone set up a fake KevinRiley Twitter account (using a capital "i" instead of a small "L" in "Riley"). I contacted Twitter and they took the account away and put it in my control. They're pretty good about that kind of stuff.

Awesome, it's good to know they gave you control over the account as well. I'm seeing a movie "Invasion of the Twittersnatchers" in the works.

[yourreviewer]

Twitter has a HUGE potential. I am certainly not leveraging it to the extent I should, but it is one of the best ways to generate a lot of traffic to your website.

[angela99]

Impersonations aren't limited to Twitter, of course.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime can impersonate you online, the most common way is via spoofed emails.

FWIW, my opinion on this is that it's not worth worrying about.

If you consistently build your own name as a BRAND, as Seth Godin has, and as you should too, anyone spoofing you will only help you to enhance your brand.

Viz Shel Israel and the sock puppet incident -- Puppet Parody Show Gets Sponsorship; Original FastCompany Show Doesn’t

No doubt the sock puppet fiasco was painful for Shel, but it also got him lots of exposure all over the web; if you agree that all publicity is good publicity, this affair has raised Shel's profile considerably.

In a nutshell: if you are impersonated, send the impersonator a gift basket. If there's enough fuss, you'll get lots of traffic and sympathy. It goes without saying that you should maintain a professional attitude, however. No swearing and cursing. :-)

Cheers

Angela

[Mark Riddle]

I'm pretty sure I follow the real Kevin Riley but it could be the hamsters have set up their own account? Hmmmmm

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

I had someone set up a fake KevinRiley Twitter account (using a capital "i" instead of a small "L" in "Riley"). I contacted Twitter and they took the account away and put it in my control. They're pretty good about that kind of stuff.

[Teresa Coppes]

Originally Posted by angela99

If you consistently build your own name as a BRAND, as Seth Godin has, and as you should too, anyone spoofing you will only help you to enhance your brand.

Cheers

Angela

Exactly what I was thinking.

Reading that though reminded me a funny I think I saw on TMZ at one point - the daughter of the CEO for Yahoo seemed to be in a bit of trouble and when she was hounded by photographers she kept shouting, "Get out of my way, don't you know who I am? Google me."

[Chris Lockwood]

The fake Seth probably was as worth following as the real one.