Courtesy: @applecrispmusic
Being an early adopter is an exciting game with ups and downs every day. Sometimes, you get yourself into an awesome service before they close the doors and tell you you’re not allowed in. Other times, you end up paying more for a product than you probably should have. And sometimes, you get to see something so early that it you see it start, grow and die before it gets the chance to go mainstream.
As one of people behind the Limestone New Media Group initiative, I’m always keeping Kingston – and Kingston’s businesses – in mind as I browse the web. Fairly early on, I had a feeling that Twitter was going to get pretty big, and I registered a number of account on behalf of local businesses. I did this again earlier this year.
Twitter’s position on these names is pretty clear: Don’t do it. According the the use policy, bulk registrations, impersonating others and trying to sell names back to corporations for profit is a clear no-no and will end in a suspension of the account – as well as potentially other accounts you manage/’own’. I have, twice now, flown straight against this rule and registered a whole bunch (8-10 each wave) of accounts.
I bring this up because I got a wonderful email the other night that allowed me to turn over another account to a local business. I didn’t charge them anything, didn’t have them buy a time share and didn’t even add their email to a mailing list. They wrote to me – and I simply replied with the password.
While it may be that Twitter’s not shutting me down because the haven’t found me, I’ve also been very careful about what I’ve done with the accounts:
- I don’t tweet on their behalf. In fact in the second wave, I only post a single tweet that reads “This account has been set up as a placeholder. If you feel you should have it (It’s free!), follow the link in the profile for details.”
- The profile links to this page – which is a letter explaining who I am, what the LNMG is, why I’ve ‘stolen’ their account, and what to do to get the password.
- I don’t edit defaults: The background, icon and everything else stays to whatever Twitter says it is.
- Once I get an email, I check who it’s from. If it’s from the domain I’d expect it to be, I just turn over the account. If not, a few quick Google searches will usually confirm who the person is. In either case, once I can verify the person, I blank out the profile link, delete the tweet and send them the password.
- I don’t market them – I don’t want to be seen as ‘that guy’ who’s squatting the names and approaching people with them. Though I’m not asking for money (Or even suggesting they turn to me for a strategy or consulting), I know that “cold-calling” in this way is frowned upon, so I just don’t do it.
My entire first wave of accounts went to their proper owners in just over 6 months. This second wave is taking a little longer to be disbursed - but I crossed the halfway point by turning over @applecrispmusic recently.
It makes me SO excited to see so many Kingston companies beginning to to adopt social media tools – and I’m honoured to be able to play a small role in helping them along.
Tommy Vallier helps groups, individuals and businesses understand how social media tools can be used to their fullest. He is also a community builder and web developer living in Kingston, Ontario.
That's AWESOME. Good for you, for having this idea, and taking the initiative to act on it and help out our local businesses. Kudos, kudos.
I don't imagine that Twitter is going to have a problem with it unless you're keeping it from another business of the same name outside of the Kingston area.
I was also excited to see Apple Crisp join the local rank and file on Twitter. That said, I am not sure that I agree with the practise of securing names on others behalf. What if the Apple Crisp Music group in NYC wanted that name? Would you be willing to hand over the keys, or reject their application in favour of the Kingston-based @applecrispmusic? Both would have a legitimate claim to the twitter handle, but if the interest is first shown outside of Kingston then I would argue tough luck for the local guys who failed to register. Further, there's nothing stopping people from slightly adjusting their username to work, such as @applecrispmuzak @theapplecrispmusic and so forth. I think it's also worth noting that when you sign up for a Twitter account, it only tells you whether or not your preferred handle is available. Some people might not take the time to check to see who is using their preferred/logical username, or that people like you are willing to hand over the keys. In the end, they would select another name, and that could create confusion, and hurt their brand. Since Twitter takes impersonation seriously, then I would leave it to them to sort out. Just my two cents for what it's worth.
Great that you've established a first come, first served protocol. That makes total sense.
As to the core chunk of your post (adopting early), I am jealous. I wish I could make this more of a priority, because I suspect, the more you get your foot in the door first, the more attractive you become to people (like the developers of Google Wave) for the exclusive invites.
Wait… if you have a first come, first serve protocol, why not leave them open for the businesses to grab when they wanted to? Why have you set yourself up as a gatekeeper on a site you don't own?