Twitter is one of the newest and most popular services out right now in the online world. It works great for Social Media and if you’re an avid user of Twitter you should think about what your going to tweet out there to the world. For the most part Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with people within a particular industry online but there can be the occasional time where it might bite you back.
Once Something Is On The Internet You Cannot Get Rid Of it.
If you can disprove the above statement, please correct me. Though if you post something online via any numerous services on the Internet, it will never go away, especially if Google picks it up. Look at the instances back when I was younger, Google archived those newgroups posts of mine. Same goes for Twitter. Sure Twitter itself archives your tweets, but Google makes it easier to find. I am sure other services will creep up that will do the same (if they haven’t).
Flickr Photo by: bertboerland
Darren mentioned that he came across a website who created a Greasemonkey script for use alongside a Google search (via their website) that will display the recent Tweets for the keywords you searched. This had me thinking about two recent incidents with people who follow me online and looked at my Twitter feed.
As some people might know, I’ve had some issues with the way certain things are done at work and it frustrated me when some of my scripts broke. Well I tweeted about my frustration one day and a few days later my boss mentioned something about it. He started using Twitter after talking about it more at work among the coworkers and came across my Twitter account. All he did was a quick Google search for my name and another keyword and his Google Desktop loaded up the list of Tweets I might have had.
So if you are on Twitter, make sure you don’t use it to vent frustrations about your work place.
Pretty much if you use Twitter just give that tweet a second thought. Anyone will be able to read it at any time. Another case in point is my little sister found something I mentioned on Twitter about her. I guess at times I use Twitter to vent to people. Does it work therapeutically? Perhaps but I have to make sure what I tweet won’t bite me in the ass later.
Ask yourself before you tweet or even post something online: Do I really want people to read this at a later time? Do I want people to read this later in the future?
On a side note: Twitter Spam Accounts
I really do not think that the Spammers out there understand how Twitter works. I have to be FOLLOWING YOU to see what you said. So whatever you are spamming me with (you’re following me right?) I won’t be able to see. Kind of defeats the purpose for Spammers to sign up for Twitter doesn’t it?
The only thing it does is temporarily increases a Twitter User’s following. Twitter is good at culling through the spam accounts and suspending them. I will block anyone who adds me just to spam me with something I cannot see in the first place unless I follow you.
bzMar 02, 2009 at 13:57:10
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I’m sure Google is how the trolls continue to access my stream, despite being blocked. You never really can lock down your feed fully on Le Twitter.
As for the abusive accounts, Twitter is getting into suspending them and have created a new cartoon, Hootie, to join the Fail Whale.
http://www.buzzbishop.com/blog/2009/03/02/twitters-hootie-and-the-blowfish/
KimmMar 02, 2009 at 18:01:36
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I use twitter for personal use, and even with my site I always try and make sure whatever I post does not come back and bite me in the ass later on.
I haven’t had any spam accounts lately, more so when I had my account private. Then again I barely follow anyone who just wants zillion followers
Tyler Ingram March 3rd, 2009 at 10:30:05[Link]
I have found that spam has been pretty low but then again they don’t bother me because I don’t see their tweets. If they @’d me then it might be bothersome.
Melissa EmmettMar 04, 2009 at 20:50:11
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In an industry where change is literally at your fingertips, the idea of permanency may be a hard concept not to lose sight of today. Thanks for getting me to reflect on my own internet habits.
PearlMar 06, 2009 at 09:06:39
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I wouldn’t disagree. Everything that slips outside one’s head can come back in a new context. It’s not exactly census data that can only be seen when you’re dead a century or whatever time limit…I’ve been surprised to find out who follow my facebook updates with interest and how closely. It is a public life online and increasingly indexed.
Joey LoganoMar 20, 2009 at 10:23:21
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Its true that you have to becareful of what it is you do on the net, because everything is monitored, especially with the search engines getting faster and smarter. I bet there are alot of crimes solved by the internet, hehe.
Tyler IngramMar 20, 2009 at 11:10:17
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There was recently a crime solved by using Google. I’ll see if I can find the news article but it had to do with a Ggoogle search on I think a method of killing?
Joey LoganoMar 23, 2009 at 20:39:27
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On a google search alone? Wow!
Yeah it doesn’t surprise me, I have also seen a person’s myspace page be used for evidence, and I am sure maybe even they may use Twitter too in the future lol