How to Spot a Twitter Parasite- Part 1


Imagine you’ve worked hard to build a loyal network of followers and fans on Twitter, only to discover that someone is taking advantage of your visibility to slip in their promotional messages.

It’s happening a lot and as an advocate for ethical and sincere marketing, I want to spotlight a few incidents that have happened recently.

Brandjacking

First of all, there’s the whole brandjacking in social media thing. Brandjacking is when someone steals your identity and poses as you.

A number of celebrities who didn’t get on Twitter early enough woke up to find themselves impersonated by someone else who set up a profile in their name. Sorry, Nicole Kidman, I hope you can get your profile back! There have also been malicious brandjacks of regular old business owners, people literally impersonating competitors in their fields.

Read up on brandjacking to keep yourself safe and informed.

Straight Up Hash Tag Opportunism

Recently I hosted a teleseminar and instructed everyone on the call to use the #vivavis hash tag to share insights, aha’s, and to mix and mingle with other attendees. (For an explanation of hash tags, click here)

One participant, who it turns out is VERY new to Twitter, started sending out promotional Tweets using the #vivavis  hash tag. So in the midst of people following a thread of conversation related to online marketing, a super spammy message popped up with a link to a website.

Let’s imagine what this would have been like had we been meeting face to face. 2 people are presenting, everyone is into the topic, then suddenly someone stands up and shouts out a commercial for her business.

Hello? Manners?

I tried to direct message the person but she wasn’t following me, so I simply sent out an @reply (not using the hash tag, I didn’t want her to get any  more juice out of this) saying “Please stay on topic.”

In other words, “Gotcha! Now knock it off or else!”

Amazingly, the spams stopped and I bet that the person involved will not be pulling that one again.

(File this under “what was that person thinking? Also file this under “Reprimand with grace and you won’t start a war of words and resentment”)

I have more to talk about but I must adhere to my “I’m here to write a blog post not a novel” credo. So …. my next post will unveil a couple more Twitter Parasite issues involving Retweets and Promotions.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Find yourself dealing with parasites from time to time? I’d love your comments.


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About Nancy Marmolejo

I'm a soul-driven strategist who teaches entrepreneurs how to turn followers into fans and fans into clients using social media and heart based marketing. My approach integrates proven strategies and intuitive hits so each client finds her special way to stand out and sizzle in the spotlight.

  • http://www.mayhemstudios.com mayhemstudios

    I also despise tweetjackers. Retweeting you and replacing your url with theirs, hidden in a url shortener. Making it look like you endorsed the links. The links usually leads back to their site and services.

  • http://www.elysiumdesigned.com Paula LeBlanc

    Thank you very much for this information. I am new and still learning. I will look forward to hearing more about this issue. I don't want to be doing anything impolite or doing something the wrong way. Thank You Again!

  • Paula LeBlanc

    Thank you so much for this article. I'm still a newbee and would hate to be doing something wrong. Looking forward to reading Part 2. Thank you again!

  • Maureen

    I had no idea this stuff happens..good article with very useful information.

  • http://VisionForSuccess.biz Ali

    Hi Nancita, I'm so glad you're bringing this up, as you're not only posting a message about ethical behavior in the market place, but also "etiquette", which so many people seem to miss, and in some cases, disregard all together. I'm sure Marjorie will have her two cents to say about this.

    I've encountered folks that come right in with a huge "smile" in their postings, and nice as apple pie, and then, BANG, they hit me with a "doozy" (como se spell?) –

    Gracias for bringing awareness to a growing problem and showing us how to put a stop to it before it gets out of hand, and still be nice about it. Imagine that!

    Well done, Comadre!

    <abbr>Alis last blog post..I Love the Month of May, don’t you?</abbr>

  • http://kolpiacounseling.com Loren Fogelman

    Although the majority of people you build relationship with are genuine, there are others that see microblogging as a spam opportunity. What is our responsibility as a community? You have choices as to how you want to act or react. Appears you handled what could have been a very disastrous spammer in a delicate manner.

  • http://www.eggblogg.co.uk Robin Houghton

    Great points. I wonder if this person who abused the hashtag, if she really was that new to Twitter, just made a genuine mistake? Perhaps I'm being a bit naive, but I guess it's possible. Or just that she knew what she was doing but didn't realise the etiquette. Excellent advice to 'reprimand with grace' though.

    <abbr>Robin Houghtons last blog post..Tips for giving great presentations – part 2: Body language</abbr>

  • Princess Simone

    Mabe twitter should offer I.D/webcam verification and other things related as a option to reduce some of the issues at hand.

  • http://www.collegeofpublicspeaking.co.uk Vince Stevenson

    I am still new to social media and I feel that I have followed the advice or behaviour of more experienced people and have occasionally received a negative reaction. But then I have occasionally received contradictory advice. I saw two people discussing RTs recently and was confused about which one was correct. If I screw up, please try to forgive me. It wasn't deliberate. Rgds Vince

  • http://www.michelepw.com/blog Michele PW

    And let's not forget about the people who follow hundreds of people, get them to follow, then unfollow them so it looks like they're more important then they really are. Classic bate and switch. And completely ignoring the point of social networking, which is to build relationships.

    <abbr>Michele PWs last blog post..Business Success — Lessons Learned from Ivanka Trump</abbr>

  • http://www.vivavisibilityblog.com Nancy Marmolejo

    Robin, good comment. Yes, I wonder if it's a newbie innocent mistake or something calculated, but i try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But then after this blog post was written i was driving on a Southern California freeway, where several motorists abused an open Exit lane as their very own Passing lane. Sort of the same thing… pushing to see if they can get away with it.

  • http://www.vivavisibilityblog.com Nancy Marmolejo

    Lauren,
    thanks for your supportive response!

  • http://www.vivavisibilityblog.com Nancy Marmolejo

    Maureen: yes indeed things like this happen! I hope it doesn't wreck the lovefest of social media…

    Paula: it's all just common sense!

    Mayhem: we'll just be on the alert! And look out for my next part in the series, Retweet Hijacking will be front and center.

    :-)

    nancy

  • http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Serena Carcasole

    Great post Nancy and great comments too!

    There is an application that you can find out who is following you back. http://friendorfollow.com/ Great way to get those people that follow and then unfollow to grow there followers.

    <abbr>Serena Carcasoles last blog post..Blog Talk – Why Blogging is an Important Element to your Overall Marketing Plan</abbr>

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelqtodd michaelqtodd

    The 90/5/5 rule is a goood one to stick to on Twitter.90%convesation 5% info giving and 5% cause or business promotion. Not rocket science but just like you would behave at a party as Nancy has rightly pointed out

    @michaelqtodd

  • http://clareconsulting.wordpress.com Gerrianne

    Hi all, I am new to this whole social marketing thing and really want to "do it right". I am excited about getting to know people in the blogosphere/twittersphere but do not want to be spammed. I can't believe how I start to follow someone and end up with a page of their twitter posts all within one minute of each other. Frustrating. I am trying to be more discerning about who to follow. Thanks for listening.

    <abbr>Gerriannes last blog post..Giving Myself Permission to do NOTHING</abbr>

  • http://www.vivavisibilityblog.com Nancy Marmolejo

    Gerianne:
    When I first got on Twitter I couldn't believe how much the same 4 or 5 people were just cramming my stream with all their stuff. I ranted and harumphed… until I realized that I only had about 4 or 5 people in my network. LOL! Moral of the story: build your following and the stream will get more diverse. You'll barely hear a peep out of those maniacs (hopefully) once you start bringing in some fresh Tweets.

    Michael: Like that 90/5/5! Great ratio to keep things in the groove. Thanks for that.

  • http://real-url.org/twitted.php?id=1933826950 Twitted by LondonVA

    [...] This post was Twitted by LondonVA – Real-url.org [...]

  • http://wisewomen-web-publishing.com Carole

    I just had a big rant on a manifesting group I belonged to. There was a couple that never participated in supporting others in their intentions for manifesting, but just posted quotes and the hashtag group name. They "got it" and are gone now. How rude and arrogant some folks are! Thanks – great post!

  • http://www.copy-cat-copywriting.com/blog Cathy Goodwin

    I think hijacking posts would be self-limiting as people would see through it. And some changes are innocent. I caught myself wanting to RT a long post and editing the original. A quandary: edit the post and give the originator credit, edit and send as my own, or just forget the whole thing. LOL.

    <abbr>Cathy Goodwins last blog post..Google Adwords with Superguru Perry Marshall</abbr>

  • http://ripalongwithme.blogspot.com valentina

    Just getting my noggin around social media – still just hanging out so your article is very informative and timely! Thank you

    <abbr>valentinas last blog post..How to Monetize Your Blog</abbr>

  • http://www.vivavisibilityblog.com Nancy Marmolejo

    Valentina:
    Glad the article caught you while you're still fresh! :-)

    Cathy:
    Editing a long tweet is fine, as long as the original person who posted it stays in. I abbreviate a lot of Retweets to save space. That's why it's always good NOT to use all 140 characters… save space for retweet love.

    Carole:
    I chuckle when groups brought together for transformation and good attract a few crack pots. Really makes everyone practice what they preach!

    Nancy

  • http://www.ThinkitBeitSeeit.com Rev. Anne Presuel

    Love the information, Nancy; thank you.

    Also, as a relative newbie to the Twitterverse (<3 mo.), I'm still figuring out the dos and don'ts of etiquete. I'm learning from so many others who are on my list, and I know I'm doing things "wrong" because I don't know better. Still, it's ok, because I'm learning. And because I know what it's like to be a new kid on the block, I can give patience and understanding to others, as well.

    What I've chosen to do is to focus on creating my list of people I really want to hear from, and to delete the others who are sending out bunches of articles/spammy-type messages, etc.

    I feel it is up to me to maintain my own peace of mind or serenity of soul, and to not sweat the small stuff (people who don't do "it" right), and to enjoy the quotes, thoughts, articles, information that others are posting as I am able to.

    I love the fact that I have made new connections with colleagues, and am making new friends, learned from many new people, all of which would not have been possible without having joined Twitter. To know that I am also building community on top of all of that just is icing on the cake, in my mind.

    Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts here. And keep up the fabulous work!