Someone on Twitter has a user name that is the same as something in which I have an interest. Here is their tweet history:
This behavior is … odd. Is it some sort of cyber-squatting deal? Do they have to update their twitter feed every so often to keep it from going defunct?
Looks to me like a Twitter newbie, probably an internet newbie, having fun with the website. How shocked they’ll be when they discover people are already judging them for it.
I think it is someone trying to not appear to be a spammer. Most people won’t follow obvious spammers back, but someone like this may get followed back because they appear harmless. Then, when they have enough followers, the ads come out.
Why are you following this person? It sounds like he’s (maybe) in your boat - interested in a particular topic. But you don’t follow those people, you follow the people who are authorities in that topic (and provide accurate, useful, and timely Twitter updates on same).
When I say “interest” I mean “a financial stake” as well as “enthusiasm”. The user name is the same as a business of mine, but the posts are so inane that I can’t tell what the person is doing. Are they cybersquatting, hoping I’ll pay them to gain possession of the user name? Did they happen on the name totally accidentally, and they’re just enjoying the novelty of posting text to the whole world? Do they also have an interest (enthusiasm) in the topic suggested by the username?
The user also only has 8 followers at the moment. And that list was the entirety of their posting history, not a recent sample.
I’m not sure it’s cybersquatting. I’ve got a Twitter account, following 3 people, with 8 followers. I’ve never ever posted anything.
I signed up because one of my suppliers is sending out announcements via Twitter. The 8 followers could only have found me because of who I am following.
I can totally see myself sending out some random messages at first, to get a feel of how things work and then never posting again.
Well sure - that’s how I bet most people use Twitter (or at least, *should *use Twitter). What pings my cybersquatting radar is the fact that the guy has picked the name of a company as his user name.
The name they have chosen may be the same as your business, but it’s also just a typically “cute” username that any number of kids using the internet would pick - nothing that says “commercial” whatsoever. I’m sure it’s not cybersquatting.
(I’m not revealing the name here as I assume the OP didn’t want to, although it’s not difficult to find.)
Right, Colophon–that’s part of my confusion. I can’t quite decide if it is some intentional, adult behavior that I can’t quite pin down, or just a random 9-year-old who is tooling around on the internet.
I say 95% probability of random tooling (although not a 9-year-old - the spelling is too good!). I’d bet pounds to peanuts that said Twitterer is totally unaware they share a name with your business.