Twitter Putting the Kibosh on Pay for Followers Services?

Monday, August 17th, 2009 by Jordan McCollum

Twitter Putting the Kibosh on Pay for Followers Services?

Would you pay for more followers on Twitter? Apparently some people would—a few providers have found a way to monetize the popular microblogging site with selling more followers.

uSocial is one such service. For a mere $87, you can get 1000 new Twitter followers. uSocial made headlines recently when they claimed that Michael Jackson’s family bought the late pop star 25,000 more followers after his death. uSocial also claims to strive to match your profile to potential followers‘ interests, and to grow your Twittership over time—a far more organic approach than it sounds like on the surface (admit it—you were thinking they just had thousands of dummy accounts).

But soon, even that seemingly-legit kind of matchmaking may disappear from Twitter. CNET reports that uSocial says Twitter’s gunning for them as spammers.

uSocial issues a press release this morning to say that a brand management firm (MelbourneIT, according to Australian sources) contacted uSocial, concerned about spammy messages the company was sending on Twitter.

I’m sure that many Twitter users will chime in to say just how wrong the practice is—but at the same time, we all want more followers. I would totally understand Twitter taking action against a service using fake profiles to artificially inflate customers’ subscriber counts. While paying someone to find them for you is a shortcut, is it really abusing the system? Or is it worse to accuse uSocial of spamming (when they claim they’re not) and use that as an excuse to shut them down?

What do you think? Should uSocial be allowed to practice its services? Is Twitter using this as an excuse, or is uSocial really spamming?

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7 comments on “Twitter Putting the Kibosh on Pay for Followers Services?”

Samantha Milner Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

Hi

i know its wrong what they are doing but i always think of twitter as my second subscriber base and present them with offers and free information just like i do with my list.

But think of it like this….

How many companies out there sell double optin mailing lists there are literally millions of them and this is the exact same thing!

Personally i wouldnt pay a penny for such services as like with my mailing list it is about building a relationship with your customers and if you do this there is no way the relationship will have the ability to generate good sales for you.

thanks for the post

sam
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Samantha Milner´s last blog ..Expanding your online business
Twitter : Seriez-vous prêt à payer pour obtenir des followers ? | Réseaux sociaux | Webmarketing & co'm Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

[...] autour de Twitter : tweets sponsorisés, vente de followers… Je rebondis sur un post du blog Marketing Pilgrim qui parle de uSocial, une entreprise proposant d’acheter des packs de followers, ayant fait du [...]
Social Media Commando Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

Social Media FAIL (uSocial, that is…)

“Twitter Followers are Meaningless; Twitter Listeners are Priceless”
Social Media Commando´s last blog ..100 Ways to Make Cash Money Using Twitter
Twitter Putting the Kibosh on Pay for Followers Services? | Twitter Bootcamp Money Marketing Machine Secrets Skills | Targeted Twitter Traffic Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

[...] Read this article: Twitter Putting the Kibosh on Pay for Followers Services? [...]
Free Wii Says:

August 17th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

I can’t believe people pay that kind of money for followers. It’s easy to get followers but getting ones that listen is a different story, you can’t buy those!
Don Draper Says:

August 18th, 2009 at 11:04 am

Ask yourself why people are willing to spend so much money on a service that so many people are certain doesn’t work. And why they come back and spend more money on something that doesn’t work?
Don Draper´s last blog ..Server Crash
Michael Says:

August 20th, 2009 at 8:23 am

“I can’t believe people pay that kind of money for followers. It’s easy to get followers but getting ones that listen is a different story, you can’t buy those!”

Exactly how I feel Free Wii.

Finding the followers who actually listen and interact is the hardest part of Twitter. Just like in life, there are no shortcuts to success at the end of the day. Worry about providing value and great content and the rest should take care of itself.

Marketing Pilgrim