chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Is Your Community For Sale

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

youtube downloader — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:35:49 -0000

My guess is yes. In situations where there are people deeply tied to a publication, but there’s still a sense of more than one person stirring the pot (Copyblogger *is* Brian Clark, but it’s also his guest writers, and could ultimately be taken over by someone else), I think we can move as a community with it. I think.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Marco — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:23:58 -0000

you are DEAD on.

One of the most fascinating things to me is the growing fluidity of the web's current landscape and the challenges it will continue to create for existing and emerging businesses alike.

The gradual erosion of brand loyalty is an amazing thing to watch - Google is destroying the search market right now but if a more powerful search engine with an equal or better interface landed tomorrow who WOULDN'T jump ship in a heartbeat?

That said the delay in adoption rates will serve as a bottleneck to extreme instability. I wouldn't classify myself as an early adopter but I eagerly follow those of you who are and it has been a real eye opener. It has been interesting to see how some of you who exist at the center of these new web developments have already tired of Facebook's weaknesses and moved on while everyone else is still very much overwhelmed by the myriad of options.

These dynamics will serve those who purchase "communities" or blogs well since I imho it will mean that - while aggressive users will likely bail and follow the other members of their particular community - everyone else will just be learning about a popular site or product and file in (or remain)...for a time.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Edoardo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:36:20 -0000

He is not selling friends, he is selling an account and not sensible informations.

People sells businesses everyday, a friend of mine is selling his Bar, that doesn't mean he is selling his usual guests as well (even though this represent a value in the beginning).

Think about people working in a big company, happens everyday and we say "we got sold" even if it is not like that, we know we can find another job if we don't like the new owners.

So a twitter account is a business? yes, you don't get money directly from it but if you twitt smart you may end up having 1500 followers that you can influent about something (or not) and this is a possibility that could lead you to make some money out of it.

Do I like it? personally no, as I don't like people selling and buying databases, bad shows on tv, etc. etc.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

John Johansen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:10:57 -0000

My 2 cents. I just didn't like the way he framed it in his eBay posting. He states that he's selling his following of over 1,000 people.
To me, that shows that he wasn't interested in using Twitter to connect to people but to build up another audience willing to consume his content. While there is room for that on Twitter, I don't see it transferring well through just some random eBay auction.

He does have a disclaimer at the bottom that people may unfollow but his intention to sell his followers seems shallow.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Leif Hansen — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:03:52 -0000

Predictions:

Scenario #1 After this fascinating experiment goes viral, Andrew will change his mind at the last minute, smile, and enjoy the increase in followers, publicity and more.

Scenario #2 Andrew gets a surprising chunk from ebay; the buyer gets a short boost of hits and then a gradual drop-off of twitter followers (the ones that would be of value); Andrew is relieved from the burden of a tool he wasn't using and enjoying; a mass of new twitter accounts are created by those with copy-cat ideas; @HilaryClinton sells her account to Obama for...oh wait, she's only got 3k followers to his 23k...well, he still buys it cause he's nice.

Kudos for getting people thinking about many key questions here Andrew (whether or not you thought it would bring up so many questions about community, value, etc.)

-Leif
www.SparkSocialMedia.com

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Rick Mahn — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:23:29 -0000

Interesting... Assuming that he is serious and it is for sale - how does Hugh MacLeod's deleting of his own Twitter account affect the value of Andrew's account?

Honestly, assuming that there is some monetary value attached to a Twitter account of a well known person, wouldn't Hugh's action last week degrade the value of Andrew's?

Of course, in my book a Twitter account in the name of an individual has no monetary worth. It has value to me if it's the actual person using it to share and interact with the community. If Andrew (or Scoble, Brogan, Rubel, Winer) were to sell their Twitter account and another person started to post using it - I'd drop it immediately. I'm interested in the thoughts and interactions of the people I follow, not the name that it's posted under.

Like I said though, interesting...

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Tony Katz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:46:04 -0000

Chris,

This isn't about community, its about publicity. About a year ago, they decided to sell their Vloggie award (http://rocketboom.wikia.com....
Before that, is was advertising for sale (http://digg.com/tech_news/R....

I don't call this social media. I call it an irrational love of Ebay. Are they paying for this kind of advertising? Or, how much Ebay stock does Andrew own?

Take care.

Tony Katz

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Laloj — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:06:40 -0000

http://www.tech-exposed.com

Being part of something, even a blogging community, makes it much more personal. Meaning, if a blog were sold to another entity then most persons of that community feel a sense of betrayal and will look for another community in whcich to be a part of.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Darren Daz Cox — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:42:12 -0000

I assume a business interest will buy the account and then you'll have clever advertising disguised as personal tweets?

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Matt Bowman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:57:15 -0000

Welcome to the credibility market. Develope a reputation then sell it to spammers. Editorial prostitution.

More thoughts here: http://alwayson.goingon.com...

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

M_Barger — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:13:07 -0000

Perhaps the point that Andrew is making...

We have a great thing going on here - SM, the voice of the people, communincation, etc. But as you mention, what happens when that communication is sold to another company? Certainly the purchaser will have intents/goals that differ from the sellers - the overall message would change.

Chris, your theory has a good deal of potential, but when that happens aren't we "cattle" again? If the buyers also buy the pen names as well, only the acutely attuned may have any insight to such a change.

This could eventually lead to the resurgence of oneway communications (advertising) that make most consumers cynical, morose and apathetic towards brands.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

the constant skeptic — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:27:02 -0000

I am #skeptical of loren feldman, but his ebay bid for his twitter account is now up to 1125 USD. @EricSusch I I agree that people will pay a lot of money for something that is worthless.

I think what is more interesting is that maybe he is proving that rich entrepreneurs who do not know twitter or what it is about will get misled into thinking they are buying something of value. This may be the beginning of the next web bubble bursting, just very slowly.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Eric Susch — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:26:31 -0000

I don't get why some people are so upset by what Andrew is doing. I'm one of his followers and I know him personally. I'm not being "sold." I have not lost control of myself. I can un-follow at any time. Communities self-correct themselves. If something changes the main value of the community, people just leave and go someplace else.

I think the only thing Andrew is going to prove is that some people will pay a lot of money for something that will be totally worthless.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Mary-Lynn — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:57:38 -0000

No cuddling, no love. Just let me follow you, and then sell me. I feel so used...

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Cyndee Haydon — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:35:49 -0000

I thought this was a joke when you posted on Twitter - I am curious to see what happens because to me it's nothing without him - people are following and communicating with "him" - lurking to see what happens. And if you bought it - what's it worth if everyone quits following?

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Preston — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:50:29 -0000

You buy/sell news.
You buy/sell information.
You buy/sell brands.
You buy/sell websites.

You CAN'T buy/sell personality.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Clintus McGintus — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:56:30 -0000

I'm curious how it all pans out. I'm sure some will unfollow as soon as the auction is over if they haven't already. Others will stick around to see how the new owner uses the account. Aside from all of the hype of the sale, I'm sand that Andrew no longer wishes to use Twitter for personnel use. I love following friends and people I'm interested in. So the fact that he is leaving all together is the part that bothers me. But I still have him in other places. We'll see.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Michael | University Scholar — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:21:45 -0000

He is smart for selling it. It is the person buying it that is not smart.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Leon Gersing — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:02:17 -0000

ok. I decided to channel my outrage on my blog rather than continue to bore anyone unwillingly here. If you're interested: http://is.gd/5NI

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Richard Hay — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:40:35 -0000

This reminds me a bit of people in Second Life, World of Warcraft, etc. creating accounts and either selling off things they have earned in the game via eBay or creating starter accounts to get to a certain level and then hand it over.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Ian — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:11:58 -0000

It's the same as a marketing company selling a mailing list, except to just one person. Every follower is in effect a subscriber to the mailing list.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Taco John — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:10:17 -0000

A slightly related note would be how far away we are from Twitter squatting. Once the primary is over, should I go register @obama2012 or @clinton2012? Can I register @saturn and wait for GM to starting twittering to rake in a couple grand? Is this happening already?

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Guest — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:04:31 -0000

I don't follow Andrew on Twitter but if I did, I'd unfollow him. Won't others follow suit until most of his followers are gone? It's just too easy to leave him. Anyone who's on Twitter know how easy it is to just leave him and move on to the next idiot. It reminds me of those kids who purchase high level accounts on World of Warcraft yet have no idea how their character works so they look dumb.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Adele McAlear — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:54:17 -0000

For those of you concerned about DMs on Twitter not being confidential if the account is sold, they are not like email; they are messages with shared custody. If you delete a message from your "Sent" tab, it ALSO gets deleted from the recipient's "Inbox" tab, and vice versa. It's good to have control over your DMs, but it also means that if there's one YOU want to save, it could be deleted by the other party at any time.

Re: Is Your Community For Sale

Mark O'Neill — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:14:56 -0000

I also agree with "mdy"'s comment - what if Baron has private messages in his account and he then passes the account with those private messages to the new owner? Wouldn't it be a breach of trust to the person who sent those private messages in the first place?

Baron should at the very least give a public promise that all private messages will be deleted.