The Gaming of Twitter

It wasn’t till recently that I really started to use Twitter, but I’ve heard about the site and people using it for quite a while. When I last used Twitter about a year ago, it just seemed boring to me. Now that a lot more people are using the network, I think I find it a lot more useful. With the increase in users, I’ve also seen some new sites and ideas popping up over the past couple of weeks. Let’s take a look!

Can You Really Sell Your Twitter Account?
The most recent news to stream across all internet news sites and blogs, is the eBay auction from RocketBoom founder, Andrew Baron. This is either an awesome idea for a link bait, or how to massively grow your Twitter following. Since posting the auction, Andrew has been more productive with his Twitter account and posts to his followers, “Starting to get kinda attached to this account all of a sudden“. With the eBay Auction currently at $1525, will Andrew sell all of his contacts and possibly just create a new account? I’m not sure, but either way, he has received a ton of link bait and promotion for his antics, which either way, will make for a good story afterwards.

TwitterMeThis: Follow, Answer Questions, Win Cash!!
My friend Jim Kukral is always stirring up some new marketing ideas and how to make marketing more “fun”! Most recently Jim created a Twitter account and went live with TwitterMeThis.com. The concept of the site/twitter account, is to have a nice following of Twitter users, then each day (sporadically) Jim sends out a question to all of his followers. The first person to get back to @TwitterMeThis with the right answer wins $5. While others are skeptical on the concept and even a spoof video was created, in the end, the success or failure of TwitterMeThis, will be decided by it’s followers.

More Newcomers to the Twitter Game
Just as I was browsing around for a few Twitter resources today, I came across PollDaddy and TwitLinks. The concept behind PollDaddy is pretty simple and useful, as you can quickly create a poll and post it as your Twitter status. TwitLinks takes a different approach and just created a whole new site where they profile the big name Twitters in the Tech News Industry, so you don’t have to scroll through all of your Twitter follower’s comments if you just want the big tech Twitters. Lastly, even Shoemoney has even found a way to use Twitter to get rid of some of his unwanted office supplies and gifts. Each day he will offer up something new along with some quiz questions to select winners.

So as Twitter is getting bigger, the options and gaming of the network is also coming into play. What will the future hold for Twitter and will we continue to see monetization by others to try and benefit all of the Twitter users for good… or evil?

While you’re at it… Follow Me on Twitter!

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15 Comments

  1. john the problem with your system is the amount of time it would take, you would have to have a lot of people following you. I also think most people on twitter are in the same league as digg users, good for backlinks bad for money making.

  2. Here is one more big shitty way to earn –

    Follow atleast 600 people, and 300 will follow in return.

    Make 4-5 accounts and make campaigns of following.. Once you reach a good number, sell all the accounts..

    Twitter should come soon with a declaration that twitter accounts cannot be sold.

    1. Agreed. MySpace had the same issue… big quality difference though. Was much easier and faster with bots to get a million friends, then sell accounts on any forum or ebay.

  3. Every system gets gamed in the end. Users are fickle, they will drop an old social media for a new one on a regular basis. The same will eventually happen to Twitter. It appears to me that they are all short lived when it comes to their value to the blogger.

    1. It's just referencing to the different ways people are coming up with sites or ideas to make more out of Twitter than just a chat/blog type of service.

  5. Here is a free twitter money making idea (since I don’t feel like doing it).
    1) Follow bunches of people
    2) Look for product questions. (What is the best Lawnmower, best place for buying Ads, best video camera, blah blah)
    3) Post aff links to products/sites that answer their questions
    4) Profit

    2. Not much profit in twitter.

      More like a fun way to communicate with your users.

      Remember, most people on twitter are tech-saavy and will know when you're sticking aff links in there. And if no one is following YOU, then no one is listening.

  7. I find twitter really annoying, not really easy to navigate… I'll have to check it again.

  8. Wow, someone selling their Twitter account for over $1,500? That's crazy! I'll sell mine for like $100 if anyone is interested lol… and I got some A-listers following me! 😀

    Jay

  9. I read so many bloggers talking about this lately. I just dont get the benefits, seems like so much time to get a few people to come see what your doin. Zac…you would know better…Do you really see Twitter lasting? I give them a yr and if they dont diversify their product they will be a distant memory. Or they will last only as long as their funding lasts.

    1. It makes no sense to me either.

      I can understand if you don't have a blog, and just want to get little tidbits of info out there.

      Or you have a blog, and you spend all day in front of the computer.

      Otherwise, where's the profit?

  10. I have created account on Twitter but rarely use it. I still don't know the pleasure of using this service.

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