Retweet Hijacking – What Would You Do?
[UPDATE 5.6.09 8:32PM PDT: I just got off the phone with the President of the company that the retweet hijack webmaster worked for. The conversation went well and I appreciate now that the company is a global organization with a large staff and an excellent reputation. The situation unfortunately got out of hand. I have chosen to edit this post to remove the company name.]
[IMPORTANT UPDATE 5.5.09 2:45PM PDT: Josh xxxx (last name removed), webmaster for @(name removed) has been in touch with me via email and also commented on my post (see below) and this post and on Twitter to extend his apologies and express his regret for the actions he took. I appreciate the gesture and may consider taking this post down, per Josh’s request… or at least making it anonymous, such that further repercussions are avoided.]
I don’t know about you, but I give GREAT care as to what I tweet about, even in my @ replies and conversations… even DM’s (direct messages). I run everything through an internal filter of:
- Would I be okay with this on the front page of the NYT?
- Would I be okay for this to be found in a Google search? and/or
- Would I be proud for my grandchildren to see this in 20 years’ time? (Exaggeration maybe, but content does hang around the internet for a long time!)
And, I’m always upbeat, positive and focused on adding value. (My tweeting style has been described as the “little Tony Robbins on your shoulder!”)
Now, I appreciate there are no “hard and fast” rules to using Twitter – or any social network, for that matter. BUT there are most certainly general rules of etiquette. And there’s personal INTEGRITY. Something very dear to my heart.
This morning, I put out this tweet: “Mother’s Day is coming up on May 10! This is a great site & service for same day gifts! http://flowersfast.com.”
One of the reasons I chose this site to tweet is I know the owner of the site and service personally.
I was delighted to see several retweets. But then something odd caught my eye – a guy retweeted me, but replaced the link I tweeted with a link to his OWN website, thereby inferring I was endorsing his site. UGH! That is the antithesis to best practice. I was not amused. See the screenshot below: @(name removed)’s tweet goes to his own xxxx site. 🙁
If you know me at all, you know I’m not the type of person to put energy into anything negative; if there’s a challenge to deal with, I’d rather do so quietly and privately. So, I saw that @(name removed) and I were following each other thus allowing direct messaging.
I was a little, um, terse – I broke one of my own relationship rules and that is I sent a message while just a smidge emotional. It’s always best to allow a wee bit of time to calm down and gain perspective.
I also decided to send a regular tweet sharing what just happened… without outing Mr. xxxx just yet – to see if he could somehow rescue this situation. He didn’t. It seemed to get worse. I received a barrage of DM’s from Mr. xxxx telling me it’s a free country and it was “lame” to “legislate integrity.” Oh dear. Well, guess whose xxxx company I won’t be using. Yes, it’s a free country.
Ignoring this occurrence may have been a better choice. But I wanted to make an example of this practice – which I now understand is becoming more prevalent on Twitter. In fact, it’s called “Retweet Hijacking!”
Blocking someone on Twitter will not prevent this type of hijacking behavior.
What are your thoughts – what would you do? Have you experienced/seen any retweet hijacking? Do you agree with this xxxx guy that it’s a “free country” and he didn’t break any of Twitter’s Terms of Service? Should the citizens of the Twitterverse bandy together to ensure best practices? Please share in the comments below [click Comments]:
Related posts: Are You A Twitter ReTweet Thief ?
[UPDATE 5/5/09 8:54pm: New related post found: Twitter “RTs” leave room for misquotes, fabrications]
I believe you were right to “out” this guy. Terms of Service violation or not, it is a clear violation of the Golden Rule. How would the Captain have felt if an endorsement of his limo service had been switched to someone else? Karma, dude.
I was shocked when I saw your tweet, and even more shocked when reading what he had to say. It really does take all kinds, and obviously he doesn’t understand what freedom really means. The freedom to write what we want comes with responsibilities, and what he did IMO should have consequences.
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“RT” infers you are quoting the following tweeps name – In media, misquoting can lead to prosecution – I’m not sure that Social Media should be any different!
I believe it does break the TOS. I have read where you have to give credit. @CaptainLimos is totally a douchebag!
What does being a free country have to do with anything? People like that have no integrity, class or respect for others. They can’t stand on their own. They have to cheap and lie to get noticed.
This has happened to me a few times, which really pissed me off. I privately DM them first, that usually ends it. If not, I call them out publicly. Or I have also tweeted a warner not to retweet hijack, give credit or the retweet police will come knocking on your door. The hijacker usually comes forward and apologies publicly or privately.
Mari,
While this has not happened to us, this is dirty pool. And his defensive response after you called him out just makes it more pathetic.
I agree with James that this practice should be spelled out in the TOS and the offenders should be tossed out of Twitter.
~Kris
Hi Mari
I agree it is certainly not in the spirit of sharing and cooperation which is what twitter has grown up to be so far. Maybe it is a sign of things to come – I hope not. It is great to retweet something and maybe add a hi, or some such comment – this gives twittering some life and soul, and a reason to come back and interact. I definitely do not condone the hijacking process as just described, and think we should do all we can to stamp out the habit.
Mark Conrau
Wow, Mari, thanks for bringing this to our attention. Obviously @CaptainLimos is in the wrong here, trying to leverage your twithority for his own evil purposes.
So then the question is, what to do? Tweetbomb @CaptainLimos? Report him to Twitter? How could they or we even monitor this behavior?
Mari, that’s unfortunate, but expected. The Web is full of many who simply want to make a buck at anyone else’s expense. You know the best thing to do is stay positive and move on… after you out him 🙂
I’ve never been hijacked like that, thankfully. And I make it a practice to, if retweeting, make sure that it says exactly what the original tweet said.
I find it, at best, disgusting that there are people like the one you call “Mr. Limo” around.
Wow. What a shame. The claim that its a free country and therefore okay to act in a despicable manner is hogwash.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He should understand now that anyone who reads this or becomes aware of what he did will now shun him.
This practice, in my humble opinion, should be spelled out in Twitter’s Terms of Service and retweet hijackers should be suspended and lose their accounts.
James Hofheins
@jwhof