Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Community Spirit and Blog Comments Redux

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Fake-Twitter and concerns of how it could be misused.

As a (partial) result, the site received an official takedown notice from Twitter and I received some of the most heated and angry comments ever from a post.

That’s cool. People have opinions and sometimes these opinions are strong, and the comment section is where these opinions are allowed to be expressed.

It’s one of the reasons that I have an open comment policy. Some people emailed me asking why I was allowing the comments to stay when a lot were personal and derogatory. Simple – I believe in free speech and the right to air grievances. Of course my post wasn’t going to be popular with everyone and the comments bore that out.

But, as I say, that’s people’s prerogative and I won’t stifle that. Where I will (and did) draw the line is when you attack my readers and others leaving comments. If you have a gripe with me, fine, take that out on me – I’m big enough and ugly enough to take the heat.

But the community that are sharing their views? If you attack them with vitriol and over-the-top abuse, I will delete your comment. I think that’s fair.

Speaking of community, that’s one thing that was a positive result of the post, no matter what “side” you were on.

Although it led to some pretty personal comments against me, the response from the Tumblr community in particular was actually pretty cool to see. These are the friends of one of the guys who came up with the whole Fake-Twitter idea.

When it became clear that “one of their own” was involved, they quickly got together and started posting humorous parodies of me on Tumblr, along with their comments on the post itself.

While I may not be a fan of the personal attack over reasoned argument, it can’t be denied that the community spirit that I believe in and encourage was present. For that, I congratulate them.

We may not always agree on everything; we may not always agree on most things. But one thing we can agree on is that community and support is the way forward – isn’t it?

photo credit: nataliej

Toolsets

Social media tools are just that – tools to help you for a
particular need or project. They?ll come and go, but the people won?t.

Get your interaction and relationship right with the people and the tools will work themselves out.

Toolsets

Social media tools are just that – tools to help you for a
particular need or project. They?ll come and go, but the people won?t.

Get your interaction and relationship right with the people and the tools will work themselves out.

Does Twitter Monitor Its Brand? Fake-Twitter.com Suggests No

Do you monitor your brand and what’s being said about you? I’m guessing that you do – after all, you need to know what’s being said in your name, particularly in our fast-paced connected worlds.

I’m beginning to wonder about Twitter, though.

The micro-blogging company isn’t having a great time of things at the minute. From network stability issues to the recent malware attack, it’s been a testing time for Twitter.

Thanks to a new website, it could become even more testing – yet Twitter doesn’t seem particularly bothered. Should they be?

Fake-Twitter.com is a site that allows you to choose any Twitter user and make a fake Twitter status update. This is then posted like a tweet and, at a glance, looks like the real thing. If you’re not a Twitter user, you might even think it’s the genuine article.

Even if you see that it’s fake, I’m guessing that the fake tweet will show up in search engine results and look like a genuine post. You can see how damaging this could be to someone’s name or brand. So, far from being a little bit of fun, Fake-Twitter.com is ethically questionable.

So where is Twitter in all of this? So far, nowhere – yet don’t you think they should be taking action against the site, in order to protect its own users?

Even if that was legally a gray area, Twitter could take down Fake-Twitter.com for copyright breach on the site’s design, which is just like the real Twitter set up.

Maybe there’s no response yet because Twitter is busy dealing with the malware attacks on their servers – so here’s some help to the Twitter team:

The Fake-Twitter domain is registered at GoDaddy.com under the name of Ryan Cornwell of Columbus, OH. You can get full details – address, email, etc – here.
The site itself is hosted at DreamHost.com, which is located in Brea, CA – so there should be no issues with overseas hosting legalities.
One of the co-creators of Fake-Twitter.com is Twitter user @topherchris – I’m sure you could ask him about Fake-Twitter.com, abuse of the site and the design copyright issue.

There’s not a lot more I can (or should) do – I’m not a Twitter employee and I have my own tasks at hand. But I am a Twitter user that cares about the Twitter community, as well as the potential damage this could do to individuals and brands,? hence the collection of information for you.

It only took me about half an hour to collate all the details and do some digging on the people behind it.

The question now, Twitter, is what are you going to do about it?

How about you? Should Twitter be taking action or is Fake-Twitter.com just a harmless joke?

Update April 13 – As of 9.00pm EST, the Fake-Twitter website is closed following an official takedown request from Twitter.

photo credit: kaioshin

Lazy Sundays – Just Kickin It with Jac Star

According to figures, there are roughly 175,000 new blogs started every day. That’s a lot of reading to take in, even for the most avid blog reader.

So, to try and help just a little, I’m going to use Sundays as an opportunity to share a blogger and their blog with you. It won’t be restricted to social media, PR or marketing either. There are a lot more to read than just the bloggers from my neck of the woods.

I’ll also be focusing more on lesser-known blogs – after all, the big guys don’t really need another recommendation, do they? So, without further ado, I give you Lazy Sundays – I hope you enjoy.

Just Kickin’ It with Jac Star

Okay, so the first recommendation is with a biased slant – it’s my wife’s blog, Just Kickin’ It.

But, before you cry foul and call the Preferential Police, I can honestly say that it’s a blog I’d recommend anyway, regardless of relationship.

What I like about Just Kickin’ It is that it’s a multi-subject blog that works. Sometimes you can get blogs that cover different topics, or niches, and some areas can be stronger than others, or at the very least, hit and miss.

Just Kickin’ It avoids this for one big reason – the author Jac Star really does have a passion for each area she covers. From the latest book reviews that cover everything from teen fiction to erotic novels, to calling people out on their stupidity in her infamous rants, Jac offers each post a human voice.

She’s also got a great line in biting humour – just check out her take on? Nadya Suleman (the octuplet mother) as an example.

Yet for all the cutting wit and recognizable rants, Just Kickin’ It offers a sensitive side as well, with the Dear Jac section. Here, Jac looks at problems that blog readers send in and offers her advice on the situation. She’s not pretending to be a psychiatrist – instead, she offers the view that an unbiased friend who cares would. And that’s what makes it work.

So, there you have it. Book reviews, thoughts and stories, rants and recommendations, all rolled up in Jac Star’s inimitable style.

If you’re looking for something other than the normal marketing, social media or business blog, you could do a lot worse than visit Just Kickin’ It. Even if it didn’t belong to my wife, I’d still recommend it – and I can’t say fairer than that.

Check out Just Kickin’ It with Jac Star for yourself and if you like what you find, why don’t you take a minute to subscribe? I think you’ll enjoy.