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 think attributing your recommendation to a site you did NOT recommend is FALSE, LYING, and Mr. “Slimemo” is not FREE to do so. I agree with the above comment, if TOS does not deal with this type of dishonesty, it should.
Mari,
I totally agree with you and each of the others who took time to comment. I have only seen this once before but am sure it won’t be the last. As Twitter grows this will become even more prevalent. That is the price we pay for allowing ANYONE to join these sites. And since they are FREE, even the “bad” guys will jump on board.
I applaud the way you handled the situation and appreciate you sharing it with us. I will be sure to pay more attention! BTW, who do I report RT highjacking to? *SMILE
Have a terrific day and thanks for all you do,
Heidi
Heidi Richards Mooneys last blog post..Public Service Announcement – Twitter is addicting!
I think attributing your recommendation to a site you did recommend is FALSE, LYING, and Mr. “Slimemo” is not FREE to do so. I agree with the above comment, if TOS does not deal with this type of dishonesty, it should.
Its pretty sad that Twitter has attracted some shady individuals who will Hijack / Hack and Phish in the Twitter world. This is very deceptive showing other Twitter users that you endorsing this when you really are not. Good post!
JustinSMVs last blog post..Twitter Zodiac Signs
That’s just nuts! Sure there’s no law against it, but it’s unethical and essentially false advertising.
Stephanies last blog post..Writer – Weekly Work at Home Job Idea
Wow Mari,
What a major bummer that this happened to you. This is a good example of a really scummy type of retweet hijacking. The worse part of this example is that you were promoting a website with the weight of your credibility and was forced to stand behind a site you did not endorse. I think in your particular situation this should be addressed in Twitter TOS and the account should be suspended for a 30 day period but not deleted.
I had the same thing happen to me but much less severe. I tweeted out a tweet and noticed a colleague retweeting my tweet but ripping my URL shortener and adding an ad bar based Ow.ly link. I have tried to stay pure in my tweeting to not include commercial ad bars etc and did take a offense. I made a mistake of publicly chastising this person and damaged a relationship for a couple weeks.
This post really grabbed me because it has two things that really need to be thought about. Retweet Hijacking and tweeting with emotion and a knee jerk response. It’s really hard to take things back on Twitter so it is best to go by your theory of the frontpage of the NY Times or will your grandchildren be able to read with a good feeling in 20 years.
With all that said, I think you pretty much went about it correctly. The issue needed to be addressed and people should be aware it’s not accepted (and will most likely be against TOS) to force an endorsement. For Mr. Limo it seems hard for him to wrap his self indulged mind around the concept, so maybe he can think of it like this: What if he were to do the same but force you to endorse porn, a computer trojan / virus or a Twitter scam product? Would he feel that was unethical and should be against Twitter TOS? My guess is, he would probably agree this wouldn’t be right. Just because the unethical “shocker” line was not reached does not absolve him of responsibility of socially acceptable ethics.
This will most likely be an issue addressed in Twitter TOS in the next 6 months or so if Twitter is to keep growing. Good post!
Joels last blog post..“Retweet is stupid” – Think again fellow social media citizens
Hi Mari, I can’t believe that someone who I assume is using Twitter to try to “brand” his business, would take such an ‘if you don’t like it, too bad’ attitude.
@CaptainLimos seemed to justify his actions by stating several times that he didn’t violate Twitter’s TOS by replacing your link with his own. I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that he came very close to violating #4 of Twitter’s Basic Terms- “You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other Twitter users.”
While he may not have impersonated you, his Retweet did give the “impression” that you were endorsing his limo services.
I wonder how he would feel if someone else of his ‘character’ were to do the same to him, replacing his link with a link to a website of questionable taste?
And once news of his actions spreads through the social media circles, I’m quite sure you’re not the only one who won’t be using his limo services while in Dallas, TX.
Wow, I can’t believe someone would actually do that! Clearly it’s wrong. Seems like this guy skipped the line up for ethics…
Jeannes last blog post..Game Two Tonight!
There is also no hard and fast rule stating when people should block another Twitter user…just a thought I’m throwing out there for no particular reason…
Hi Mari,
I am personally glad to see that you published this story so that we can all be aware of “worst practices”. I think you did a very good job of keeping it in a positive light
🙂