This is a message to our dear twitter followers and friends. Some of you may have noticed that our twitter account "ghostsnhaunts" was suspended for a very short period of time.
First let me apologise for any inconvenience which that may have caused anyone. But I would also like to speak to a trend I've seen with the Twitter business model. Jack Dorsey, founder and inventor of Twitter is by far a very smart man. He devised a method of communication similar to many others on the internet, but just different enough to catch a following and trend rapidly.
Twitter has now become a global phenomena and a true communications channel rivaling the cell phone. However in the last 6-8 months I'v seen two trends happening which are very disturbing and which I believe could be the end of Twitter. For one, I have had quite a few of our friends tell me that their account was suspended for how many individuals they follow or unfollow in a period of time. The exact number of course is not specified. I've made recommendations that they slow down a bit for a period of time but that since its automated and a formula somewhere within the "Mind" of the twitter machine, it would probably not do much good to notify the friends/followers.
This is compounded on accounts with many followers and friends. At the same time, I've noticed an increase in commercial twitter sanctioned spam, and also a plethora of E-mails from twitter urging us to get a commercial advertising account. Which is silly since we're not a commercial entity.
Well, a few days ago as many of you may know, I made an announcement that I would be cleaning house on the friends list to prune old unused accounts out which have not followed us, and are not active on the feed. We try to follow back everyone that follows us, and also follow any groups which we are made aware of.
Days after the cleanup task started, our account was suspended for aggressive following or unfollowing. And although the process of requesting reinstatement was not difficult (although automated), it does tend to create a level of doubt in our followers.
To the founder of Twitter and the board of directors I would urge you to reconsider your new almost Gestapo-like totalitarian tactics. You have spent so much time gaining the trust and admiration of the public, now is not the time to reverse that. I would understand if you had gotten any or sufficient complaints about us to warrant a suspension. But for the most part I would wager all of our followers and friends are happy to be a part of this community. If you wish to require that all accounts with more than 1000 followers and friends become paid accounts, please just say that but do not hide behind the strong handed methods.
To our friends and our followers, I would urge you to make your voice known. If you believe they are correct to do as they have done, then please let me know and I will concede being in the wrong and I will not address this issue any farther. However, if you believe that more consideration should be made to their members, please let Twitter know by writing to them.
To our friends and followers, I would urge you to contact us either directly on this site or on Facebook (
). And to other accounts with 1000+ followers or friends, I would caution you to take great care in how you follow or unfollow others. And to those who follow us and ask us for a follow back, please understand if we use caution moving forward in following others, we do not wish to get suspended again.
Thanks to everyone for your understanding, and please feel free to voice your opinion on here. No opinions are wrong as long as they are yours.
