It’s been a mildly interesting weekend.
One of the interesting things that happened was a TechCrunch article that described Andrew Baron selling his Twitter account
It was the weekend, and I was looking for some quick amusement value, so I jumped into the auction on eBay. Things got really interesting from there.
There’s been a lot of discussion on the TC article and on Twitter itself about how crazy/wrong/idiotic this whole thing is. Amidst all the noise, a few good points have been made.
Since I’m currently the high bidder, I figured I’d share my two cents as to why I’m bidding on a Twitter account at all (I’m not even that big of a Twitter user yet).
If you’re an OnStartups reader and like Twitter, you can follow @OnStartups.
Thoughts On Bidding For A Twitter Account
1. I think of this as being a “digital asset” — akin to a blog. Like a blog, a Twitter account has a “readership/following”. Just like a blog can be a person/business/hobby/whatever, so can a Twitter account. Based on this, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with someone selling (or buying) a Twitter account.
2. Twitter allows you to change the name of an account after it’s been created. So, I could change the account to www.twitter.com/technogeeks if I wanted (which right now, is still available). [Note: That’s not the name I’m planning to use, so if you want it, go for it].
3. The account being sold had 1,400+ followers at the time it was listed and now has 1,600+ followers (presumably because of all the buzz around the sale). That’s interesting. Much of the chatter on the account right now is about the sale. If people were planning on leaving in droves, I’d expect it to start happening already.
4. Twitter followers can easily “un-follow” an account. So, although some have made the argument that this is somehow “wrong”, the ease (and safety) of opting-out unfollowing makes me feel fine with it. Contrast this to if a company sold your name as part of a big mailing list. At least with Twitter, you don’t need anyone else to get you off someone’s follower list. You want off, you’re off. It’s that easy.
4. I’ve been finding more and more interesting people on Twitter lately. So, although I’ve been skeptical of it, there may end up being a there there.
So, the question is, what am I going to do with the account if I do actually win the auction? I can’t tell you yet — but I do have some ideas (none of which are nefarious and require an evil laugh). Stay tuned…
