Noah Kravitz has been sued by his former company, PhoneDog, over his Twitter followers. The company believe that the 17,000 followers are theirs to own as he gained their following whilst working for the company and promoting the Twitter account as part of the PhoneDog name.
PhoneDog are arguing that each of the 17,000 followers are worth $2.50 each, meaning that they are suing Kravitz for $340,000 for all 17,000!
Can You Own A Twitter Following?
Kravitz had originally left PhoneDog on good terms and they even said he could keep the followers as long as he continued to tweet about the company after he left. Noah Kravits had control of the PhoneDog Twitter handle and account which he built up and nurtured by himself. So, seeing as he did all the leg work and actually gained the followers, are they his? Or, because they were built up thinking they were following PhoneDog, are they the companies followers? It’s a tough call and there may not even be a right or wrong answer.
Can You Put A Price On A Follower?
I believe the simple answer to this is no. So what if you have 17,000 followers? That by no means you are engaging with 17,000 let alone have each and every one as a customer. Some people follow so many people on Twitter that they may not even see your tweets and business promotions in all the clutter. How can you say that followers like that are worth the same as the small handful that do actually tweet you, engage and spread your message? You can’t, it’s that simple. I think it’s ludicrous that people think you can say each and every person who follows you is equal in importance and price.
Key Take Away
Always keep your Twitter accounts separate. If you have control of a work Twitter account then set up an independent one to use for your personal stuff. It’s simply not worth the hassle and you can then gain the following you like rather than mix work with pleasure. It’s better all round!
~Source: http://mashable.com/2011/12/26/twitter-court-followers/
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