How important is it to monitor your name or brand?
Today gave a perfect example. An account was created on Twitter with my name, location, and bio. Since I didn’t know where the tiny.url went to, I wasn’t about to click on the link. The account then proceeded to retweet (RT) everything I was tweeting–sometimes twice! The account was also mass-following. In under an hour, it was following over 800!
Not only were the RTs very annoying to the people I was trying to talk to, but someone might have found the account and thought it was mine.
Swift action is needed in times of crisis communication. I immediately reported it to twitter. They have a handy form for just such cases of impersonations. Then, thanks to @jrnygirl‘s reminder, I sent out a tweet asking everyone to please mark the account as spam. Within minutes, it was RT’d and, in under an hour, the account was suspended. During that time, Google had already indexed it. Fortunately, I caught this quickly and dealt with it before it could become a reputation management issue.
It’s important to remember “MEAT”:
Monitor – Develop a system to track your name or brand.
Evaluate – Consider the source, timing and reach.
Act – Report, rebut, respond or ignore, based on your evaluation.
Thank – Everyone who helped.
Ashley Drake Gephart
Ashley has been involved with computers and technology since preschool, playing with punch cards her father brought home. In the early 90′s, she had her own BBS. Ashley and her husband take an unconventional approach to life and unschool their youngest daughter, conduct business meetings at 2am, and work pantsless as much as they can.
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