Corporate microblogging or Twitter-squatting?

Urs E. Gattiker — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:59:02 +0000

Twitter squatters are people who register an account on Twitter with the name of a company, brand or town. For better or worse, these people become the public face of that corportation or town on that social network. With the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, social media features prominently, so we thought we should, among other things, outline the criteria one can use to identify the official WEF versus the non-official WEF feed(s). Read on.

We provide six criteria that, all things being equal, can be used to define an organizational microblog or identify a possible Twitter squatter account, if need be. These are:

1) Registered entity – for profit or non-profit organizations.
2) Corporate logo is used or shown prominently.
3) Twitter account uses corporate name.
4) If applicable, brand logo is shown prominently.
5) Twitter account links to corporate webpage.
6) The organization has copyright.

Below we explain this in more detail using examples to illustrate the above criteria.

1) In this context the term organization includes corporations, government agencies, crown or state corporations, non-profits, charities (a registered entity of a group of people who share a common set of goals).

2) It is expected that the microblog uses the organization’s logo on the Twitter account as illustrated by the American RedCross.

3) The Twitter footprint uses a corporate name, such as twitter.com/companyname/ (or a slightly modified version such as DellShares or ComcastCares (though an individual is identified, there is clearly a corporate Twitter footprint) or the name of the government agency, such as whereelsebutqld (Tourism Queensland – Australia) or sydney_holidays (Tourism New South Wales).

4) The microblog uses a brand name or brand logo, such asdunkindonuts.

5) The Twitter account links to the organization’s webpage, like SamsungMobileUS or the appropriate blog (as illustrated by DellShares).

6) The organization owns the copyright to all the content associated with the site or account.

Even with this information, it is not always easy to identify the corporate Twitter footprint. For instance, we think kodakCB seems to be a corporate Twitter feed since it links to the chief blogger’s corporate blog. A bit different is the case with the Twitter account called ikeafans. While it supports IKEA, the associated webpage makes clear that it is not owned by the corporation.

Sometimes, the microblogger is an employee and the company logo features prominently on the blog. However, Twitter’s account disclaimer makes it clear to the casual reader that that does not mean the corporation owns the Twitter footprint. In these cases, the microblog also usually does not link to the corporate webpage or blog. An example is ScottMonty, who prominently features the Ford logo, but still makes clear using the above criteria that this microblog – while very interesting – does not qualify as an organizational or corporate one.
In contrast, FordCustService is a corporate Twitter footprint and it connects to the Ford Motor Company’s webpage.

In some instances, it is rather easy to figure out that a Twitter footprint has been hijacked or is being squatted on. Such is the case with evian: besides the mineral water by that name there is also a French city of the same name on the shores of Lac Leman. Nevertheless, this Twitter footprint is not owned by either entity.

More sinister consequences are possible in the case of a brand being hijacked or squatted on. mc_donalds, an account registered by someone using their email address, is outright damaging to the brand. Twitter-squatting could become the new domain name squatting. With this example it appears necessary for McDonald’s to contact Twitter and take action. Have you secured your Twitter name yet?

However, brands are apparently still allowed to use names or brands from others, and it is not always a competitor who does so. For instance, the World Economic Forum uses its host city’s brand, trademark or name to report about the meeting. It decided to call its Twitter feed davos. We grabbed a similar Twitter footprint just for fun and called it WEFdavos. I discussed this with Matthias Lüfkens, the WEF’s own social media expert. After some fine-tuning it should now be clear for all to see that WEFdavos is not the World Economic Forum’s microblogging footprint. As well, WEF’s davos Twitter account now clearly states that it is not affiliated with the city or the Davos-Klosters region. In both cases you can find this information in the account profile.

Test the aforementioned criteria with WEFdavos and you will immediately see that it does not meet rules 2, 3, 5 & 6. Incidentally, somebody has taken the wef Twitter footprint, but does not appear to be using it. Maybe now is the time for the World Economic Forum to re-claim this Twitter footprint for the future, whether to use it or to prevent damage to its brand. As a legitimate holder of the brand it can just ask Twitter to turn over the Twitter acount.

Bottom Line
Given the above information we can now define a corporate or organizational Twitter account or micro-blog by using the following description:

Organizational microblogs exist under the company’s or non-profit organization’s name and/or brand, whereby the organization’s logos are featured prominently if they exist and a link to the relevant organizational webpage or blog is provided. Content copyright belongs to the organization.

Even if you are not planning on using Twitter or another microblogging service, we urge you to register your brand so no one else can.

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Here’s what I’m suggesting for today: Are there other factors one should use to identify corporate space on Twitter? What is your experience with Twitter squatting? Please provide your comments. And if you are already here, tell us about your organization’s Twitter feed in 140 characters or less. Inquiring minds want to know.

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HowTo.ComMetrics » Davos

Corporate microblogging or Twitter-squatting?