[Air-L] Who to UnFollow

[Yosem Companys]

Slashdot had something about it too (not sure if quoting the BBC article).
I found out thanks to my gmail advertising, which is constantly offering me
packages of followers for some specified amount of money.

bfire writes to tell us that marketing firm uSocial has decided to apply a
> new monetization scheme to the Twitter service<http://www.itnews.com.au/News/149303,aussie-firm-sells-twitter-followers.aspx>by providing packages of followers for purchase.
> **



> *"According to the firm, a single Twitter follower could be worth $0.10 a
> month. It is selling followers in various packages, starting at 1,000 for
> $87, which is delivered in seven days, and going all the way up to 100,000
> followers at a cost of $3,479, delivered over a year."*



> This is just the latest in a number of different exploits<http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4496.html>and
> problems <http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4402.html> of the Twitter
> universe as individuals try to subvert a popular tool into a self-serving
> device.
>

On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 9:55 AM, Christophe Prieur <
christophe.prieur at liafa.jussieu.fr> wrote:

>
>  2009/7/1 Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu>:
>>
>>> There is also the approach of buying followers.  I keep seeing online ads
>>> that for something like $50 you can buy 500 followers.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:55 PM, Dave Karpf <davekarpf at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>  Hi folks,
>>>>
>>>  Compare those to
>>
>>> twitter-via-laptop or -desktop and you have a completely different user
>>>> experience.  I never used twitter until I downloaded tweetie, because I
>>>> found it a less-appealing distraction than facebook and a couple of
>>>> favored
>>>> blogs and discussion boards.  With the mobile client, I now check
>>>> twitter
>>>> while waiting in line for coffee or sitting at a red light.  Mobility
>>>> and
>>>> platform have a huge impact on how I'm experiencing the medium, and that
>>>> in
>>>> turn shapes my normative opinions about how people should and should not
>>>> use
>>>> the medium.
>>>>
>>>
>>
> I hate that when people quote pages of other people's sayings before even
> starting their own post.
>
> ;)
>
> --      Christophe.
>
>
>
> Le 3 juil. 09 à 15:11, Emma Duke-Williams a écrit :
>
>
>  2009/7/1 Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu>:
>>
>>> There is also the approach of buying followers.  I keep seeing online ads
>>> that for something like $50 you can buy 500 followers.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:55 PM, Dave Karpf <davekarpf at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>  Hi folks,
>>>>
>>>  Compare those to
>>
>>> twitter-via-laptop or -desktop and you have a completely different user
>>>> experience.  I never used twitter until I downloaded tweetie, because I
>>>> found it a less-appealing distraction than facebook and a couple of
>>>> favored
>>>> blogs and discussion boards.  With the mobile client, I now check
>>>> twitter
>>>> while waiting in line for coffee or sitting at a red light.  Mobility
>>>> and
>>>> platform have a huge impact on how I'm experiencing the medium, and that
>>>> in
>>>> turn shapes my normative opinions about how people should and should not
>>>> use
>>>> the medium.
>>>>
>>>
>> I've read this thread & the one about "Trivial Twittering". As others
>> have pointed out, what's trivial to me, mayn't be trivial to others.
>> Also, most of the people who I've heard to grumble about twitter being
>> full of trivia about breakfast are generally using that as a reason
>> not to use it - rather than those that have used it.
>>
>> Someone else also mentioned getting annoyed about apps that post to
>> twitter; I've not installed any, nor do I think that many of my
>> contacts have, as I rarely see them. I guess, though, I've done the
>> equivalent in the past of feeding twitter to facebook. I didn't leave
>> it there long, as I realised that I get bored with other people's
>> twitter to facebook updates, so I've disabled it. I still have a lot
>> of friends who do it - so maybe it doesn't bother them as much. Or
>> perhaps they don't think about it - who knows. (And do the app users
>> enjoy reading what their contacts apps have posted, do they not know
>> how to disable them, or don't they care?)
>>
>> There's another person I follow who complains no end about people
>> using #tags for conferences they're at - yet others find them very
>> useful.
>>
>> Looking at some of the "How To " Guides for Twitter, it strikes me
>> that many of the authors believe that *their* way of using Twitter is
>> the best; and thus others should use it in the same way. But, going
>> back to the example of the tweeter who hates #tags - and those of us
>> who like them. Who's "right"? Is anyone?
>>
>> My personal view is that we should use it as we see fit; sure, there
>> is always a role for sharing of what we consider to be best practice
>> for us, but it's ultimately what suits me best that I'll do.
>>
>> Someone also mentioned buying followers ... there was an article about
>> that on the BBC website yesterday:
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8130456.stm
>>
>> --
>> Emma Duke-Williams:
>> School of Computing/ Faculty eLearning Co-ordinator, University of
>> Portsmouth, UK.
>> Blog: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/<http://userweb.port.ac.uk/%7Eduke-wie/blog/>
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/emmadw
>> SL: Emmadw Rickenbacker
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