This Weekend's Twitter Suspensions=Valuable Reminders
Over the weekend I got a call from a friend and Twittermate who woke to find his Twitter account suspended. He was truly perplexed about the suspension. Twitter recently released new terms of service and is intent on cracking down on spam (a good thing) and perhaps his account was mistakenly included in that effort. Hard to say since Twitter can suspend an account without warning and without notification. Fortunately this friend maintains a blog and Facebook profile and was able to communicate with his friends and followers through those outposts.
What a good reminder though.
These things happen. Twitter accounts are suspended. Facebook profiles hacked into.
My friend’s suspension could easily have been related to something like a spam cloud or problems with his hosting service (this happened to one of my clients as he started using Twitter). Unfortunately, his only recourse was to file a support ticket and wait for Twitter's response. It was very likely that he would be reinstated and back in business by the end of the day. It’s happened before.
In July Twitter mistakenly suspended hundreds of accounts, among them some of the big names in social media. The accounts were reinstated after several hours, when it became clear that a mistake had been made. Mari Smith was among those whose account was suspended in July and she blogged about some of the lessons she had learned from her temporary suspension. Losing her account made her aware of how important Twitter had become as a filter of information for her business. At the same time she realized that “Twitter is only one platform for visibility, branding, community building and connecting.” Mari’s Facebook and blog and other social networks served her well during the short time that her Twitter account was suspended. She stresses that even though these social networking sites are completely free, they should never be taken for granted.
At about the same time Denise Wakeman, of the Blog Squad, had her Facebook account hacked while she was involved in a daylong seminar. I happened to be on Facebook as it happened and watched the dialogue between Denise and her hacker (truly bizarre). The person hacking into her account posted that Denise was stranded in London and began soliciting money from Denise’s many Facebook friends. Denise quickly posted a note informing her Facebook community of what had happened and many of us tweeted the information for her. She was able to communicate with her network using her other social networking sites, her blog, and email. In blogging about the experience Denise reminds us not to put all of our social media eggs in one basket. She stresses the importance of being active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (and I would add, YouTube) and of connecting with friends, colleagues, fans and followers on all of them. She also cautions us. Although these networks offer tremendous value, we have no control over them. When one network goes down, or a profile is suspended, being able to continue your conversations via the other networks is essential.
This weekend’s Twitter account suspensions are a valuable reminder that the only site we really have control over is our own. Remember to use your social networking to meet new people, build relationships with them, and then invite them to join you at your blog or website. Offer them content that they find informative, valuable, compelling or useful and they will return. They may even become your next best customer or client.
Most of the accounts suspended over the weekend were reinstated by the end of the day. I haven’t heard what caused this rash of suspensions but am fairly certain that it will happen again. Will you be prepared?
