Can You Sell A Twitter Account?

In a strange intersection of economics and sociality, Andrew Baron, the Rocketboom guy, has posted his Twitter account on eBay, specifically twitter.com/andrewbaron and as of this moment, the bid is $465.

The weird part is that the title of the item is "Twitter Account and Followers For Sale". Obviously, you can't sell followers on Twitter, and Andrew knows (and states) that his followers may very well drop him after this stunt.

Here's what he said at eBay:

I really love my Twitter account but I feel like I haven't been using it the way I want to. Quite honestly, I feel sorry for all of my followers because they wind up with my tweets in their timelines and I haven't been able to utilize the medium the way I want to. I also participate in another Twitter account over on Rocketboom so I'm thinking I'll post more over there and start up a new account to do what I want to do next.

It would be silly to just delete this account I have here, especially if there is someone out there that had like interests and had something to say or wanted to get involved in some relevant conversations. In terms of monetary value, I have no expectations or needs at all so I decided not to put a minimum bid on this. Whatever will be, will be.

http://twitter.com/andrewbaron

The winner of this auction gets my account with all of my followers. The account is in my name now, but the winner of the auction can pick any other name that's available on Twitter for the transfer. For example, you could have http://www.twitter.com/x where x=any name thats not already taken. You can change it yourself at anytime too, one of the cool features about Twitter settings.

So basically it's like getting a new account with your own name, but having a pre-installed audience.

The first sign of value to most people would be the number of followers I have (the audience size). At the beg. of this auction, there are 1397 followers and I am actually quite proud of the actual quality of these followers, moreso than the number. Feel free to explore everyone to see who's there.

Also, as with any dynamic group, there is obviously risk. My followers could jump ship at anytime. There is no guarantee on this part. People will come and go, thats just the way it is. Whether you represent a company, a group or just yourself, this group will not want to be sold to, Im sure. The successful winner will share a reciprocal value with the followers.

Finally, I'd just like to give props to all of you out there who are following me on Twitter. No offense what so ever - we can easily find each other again.

http://twitter.com/andrewbaron

Duncan Riley researched it, and selling a Twitter account may be legit:

[from Rocketboom Founder Puts His Twitter Account On Sale]

[...] they may not have considered this possibility when drafting the terms of service or privacy policy - a sale or transfer of an account isn’t specifically prohibited.

So, how can you sell something like this. It's like trying to sell a circle of friends, with you in the center of it. It just falls apart.

I wonder at this publicity stunt, or prank. It doesn't really shed any light on the issues of identity and reputation in any real world fashion: it's like a thought experiment that Einstein or Hawking might dream up that's based on being in two dimensions at the same time, which we can't.

You can only have a social circle by occupying it personally. It is not a condo you can rent for the weekend. Or put more crassly, a person's friends aren't possessions to be traded off like a used car or left-over graduation presents. It's like trying to sell your freckles.

This stunt may spark some copycatters, but it is essentially meaningless. And, before someone goes on to use the final price for twitter.com/andrewbaron as some sort of yardstick, let me state unequivocally that if he gets $1500 for 1500 followers, that does not mean connectedness is worth $1 per head.

I guess social circle could be pharmed, but that would require stealth, which Andrew hasn't done. Pharming is just outsourcing your World of Warcraft account to someone who is an expert, and then after s/he has increased your ranking (and resulting increase in powers), you take it back in order to use at the new, pharmed level of play. So someone could hire an avid twit to post smart and witty sayings, @replying to all manner of closely followed twits, and then the actual schlub could enjoy the benefits -- whatever the hell they are -- of having a large circle of followers on Twitter. A whole new industry!

But that is not what Andrew has done, either.

The pressures to have a large following on Twitter -- or any other social apparatus on the web -- has taken some odd turns. I know of several very prominent twits who officially espouse the 'I follow all those that follow me' philosophy. However, in practice this is impossible: too many tweets going by. So they create a second, secret Twitter account where they follow only something close to the Dunbar constant -- 150 people -- but then post everything to the public account.

The lessons to learn, here, are simple. Social realities cannot be discounted. Relationships online are not subject to some sort of magical antigravity: they are still a form of human relationship, no matter how virtual, and not economic objects to be traded like pork bellies or manganese. Andrew's stunt will be veiwed, in the final analysis, as just that, and no more.

Comments

[steps]

@stoweboyd twittered you a new term: twititute.

[Andrew Baron]

Hey Stowe, I agree with you a great deal, though for me, Twitter is just like your blog here, for me. I've always had your subscription in my bloodlines [bloglines?] and have been happy to see you the several times we have run into each other. Twitter on the other hand, is not the place to get personal for me. Facebook is more so - networks are different. Email is the most important for me.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Andrew Baron]

Yea, Bloglines :D

[Stowe Boyd]

Andrew - I kind of liked the image of my blog posts in your bloodstream, but oh well.

[Alexnader Muse]

Makes as much sense as me selling my phone number, so I decided to give it a try:

http://www.texasstartupblog.com/2008/04/13/buy-my-phone-number-on-ebay/

[spudart]

If i were a follower of andrewbaron, I would feel like this is similar to him selling my email address to someone.

[CoryS]

If this were a Twitter account that was something other than his name, then peace, he's selling something "branded", but it is not. It is his name and frankly, when being friended, is the same as being associated with him.

I wonder if the pro's of this outweigh the con's.

Pro's - money, PR, the beginning of a conversation around social network identities

Con's - someone forever having your name on the Twitter service. Moreover, the stigma that may now haunt Andrew about making a move like this (e.g. selling his list of followers for a nominal sum).

This raises an interesting question - is there a secondary market for specific names on services like Twitter as what exists for domains?

What's in a name? Many fashion designers have gotten trapped by the ego boost of naming a product line after themselves when they sell it off. The bigger problem is what happens when you want to re-enter and you don't own your name. Ugh.

[Adam Boettiger]

Selling your named account on Twitter has got to be dumbest thing anybody can do from a branding standpoint.

[Wise Startup Blog]

You can sell anything, these web 2.0 obsessives just complain when people are trying to make a buck to feed their families