Rocketboom Founder Puts His Twitter Account On Sale

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1. bloggers mosaic
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

   don’t you just love ebay , and how people can sell anything

2. Rick
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

   Two words: nu ts.

3. AJ Vaynerchuk
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:24 pm

   I am currently the high bidder on the auction. Not because I want to own his account and spam his followers, but because I want to freeze the account and save his followers from spam and him from a squatter.

   Hopefully my modest bid wins

4. joe
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

   thats great because if air is gold it gives me hope like even i may have something to sell well maybe not because his air is gold well false hope is what i need to get through…and nice vid

5. Jagannath A
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

   this user account sale was pretty common in Digital Point and other webmaster Forums. A lot of people used to sell myspace, orkut, delicious, stumble, communities, facebook apps and a lot of other accounts. but a few weeks back only it was banned there.

6. lawrence
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

   what kind of valuation will you give this silly auction?

   hmm, let’s see - approx. 1400 userx X …

7. Gary Jones :: BlueFur.com
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

   I am interested to see the valuation of a follower from this sale.

8. Sai Gudigundla
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 10:03 pm

   Who knew that twitter can make money for you…

9. Bam Azizi
   

   April 12th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

   i have close to 2000 followers and i achieved that on only 1 week, it has doubled my traffic, it puts me in good mood, it has value but only to me …. i don’t understand why would anyone would want to buy another person’s twit account, it’s not longer personal that way!

   i don’t get it!!!

   i appriciate the fact that @AJ is buying it to protect it from over spam!!!

10. Martin Jamieson
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    The good thing about Twitter is that it is so easy to unfollow someone if you don’t like their tweets.

    Selling a Twitter account has limited value IMHO (especially if the buyer plans to spam it).

    @martyj

11. Dharmesh Shah
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:12 pm

    An interesting case study.

    AJ: I don’t know that the followers need saving. Once the account is sold, it’s easy for the followers to stop following.

    I’m currently the high bidder at $150. Amusement value alone is sufficient (at current bid levels).

12. Anthony Brown
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    This is pretty ridiculous.

13. Sarah Meyers
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    @lawrence I’d say $1 a follower is fair.

14. Duncan Riley
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    The TechCrunch effect: bidding is now at $400. As Rick #2 said: nuts

15. thw
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    It’s not a good idea,he betrayed his followers!!!!

16. Jason Rodriguez
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    What do you think the street value is for my 7 followers?

17. Dharmesh Shah
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

    @onstartups says to Sarah Meyers: What makes $1 per follower “fair”?

    Not saying it isn’t, but other than it’s a round number, what’s the argument that $1/follower is fair market value?

18. 113.com
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    1 word - cheap.

19. Ghaus
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    Bid is going to reach $500 !!!

20. James Moran
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

    This is probably not an original thought, but the use of the word “followers” in the Twitter context has always creeped me out. Enough so that I’ve had no desire to ever try it.

21. Vizion Quest
    

    April 12th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    $455 with 9 days and 20 hrs to go, would be interesting to track how many followers stick around

    current followers = 1,424

22. chris
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:16 am

    Ridiculous!

    I have an email account for sale - it has hundreds of contacts and just as many unread (as in BRAND NEW!!!) emails. Any takers … bidding starts at $1.00.

23. Yakov
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:24 am

    why isn’t he selling sponsorship of his account, instead?

24. story?
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:38 am

    Really

25. enormous
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:39 am

    If i was 1 of his followers i’d be ticked off. In ireland anyway i’m sure that’s a violation of data protection. Well it feels like a betrayal

26. Dan
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:01 am

    I think I’d rather bid on a potato chip resembling elvis….

27. Scabr
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:22 am

    465 USD! http://tinyurl.com/3zs6kl

28. Emea
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:35 am

    Isnt a twitter account a digital good ? I thought Ebay had just banned digital goods from its marketplace

29. Dallas Clark
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:52 am

    Emea - I was just about to mention that, who owns the account (Twitter or Andrew). If the sale went through, could Twitter request the payment from Andrew or otherwise delete the account?

    We just had the issue with digital ownership not too long ago with WOW, hence why eBay banned some digital accounts.

    Not saying Twitter would be evil and do that.

30. Sassmo
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 4:15 am

    I hope that:

    1) Andrew gets his money for this fair and square for being the innovator that thought of doing this
    2) There’s a huge backlash from his followers and they all stop following
    3) It discourages anyone from ever doing it again

    If he succeeds in selling it and the buyer succeeds in making it a worthwhile investment, can you imagine the spammers and advertisers that are going to flock to Twitter? It’s a pretty open and friendly community right now and I can only imagine that this is going to end by making everyone skeptical and less trusting of their Twitter neighbors…
    I’m not opposed to Twitter growing and changing, but as I illustrated above, unless Twitter intervenes this is probably going to encourage the wrong kinds of change and growth.

31. Raja Devanathan
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 4:28 am

    ingenius way of making money. good on em for doing it. cant’ see the followers still following though after all this. they must feel let down by the money making scheme.

    http://www.mrfeedback.net

32. Jason Coleman
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:02 am

    Couple thoughts:

    (1) Like everyone else, I’m thinking people will stop following when the new owner comes in. However, it seems like the user count is going up, and that make sense because of all the publicity. If I were a follower, I’d want to see who gets it and then unfollow or remain following. I’m sure that the # of users who remain followers > the # of users the new owner would have gotten on her own over the same time frame.

    (2) It seems pointless to me to sell a personal account, but there are a bunch of non-personal accounts that you would expect to be bought/sold. Like folks said, selling sponsorship or “paid tweets” would be a better deal for the personal accounts. But think of the other Twitter account Andrew refers to: the one for Rocket Boom. If Rocket Boom gets sold, the twitter should go with it.

33. xxdesmus
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:10 am

    It will get deleted by Ebay/Twitter, and either way this is ridiculous.

34. IAMPostingToSpamMyBlog
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:14 am

    Didn’t eBay ban the sale of digital products? Surely that includes a twitter account no?

    If anyone wants to buy my twitter (I have a staggering 24 followers) drop me a tweet. Serious offers only please. No timewasters.

35. TM
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:16 am

    This is absurd.

    However, the funny thing about all of this is that after the auction he will probably have made more money from Twitter than Twitter has from Twitter!

36. Alan Wilensky
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:22 am

    It borders on malfeasance for an industry leader, or person of a certain popularity, to sell access to their contact lists or accounts. The folks who subscribed to Baron may not have a financial stake in his follower list, but they had every reason to believe that they would not be transferred en mass to another joker.

37. Josiah
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:23 am

    Is a collection of casual online blog/IM contacts worth money? Apparently.

    What about a list of IM contacts that have been scrapped from Social networks?

38. dave
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:23 am

    http://www.irintech.com/x1/blogarchive.php?id=3172

39. Alan Wilensky
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 5:27 am

    Is Rocket boom still relevant as a video site? I no longer view. The question I am asking is, what are the public followers of an ex-video innovator worth? It’s not a LinkedIn list of insider contacts.

    There was a post regarding an internal HR guy trading on his Linked in contacts with a headhunter.

40. Chris
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 6:44 am

    This is a rip off. The followers will simply leave immediately after. He will simply rinse and repeat. I am an ebay power seller.
    http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eB.....id=necro25

    As a power seller, I believe that this falls under digital goods, and digital goods have been banned from being auctioned. You can only sell them in the classifieds now.
    ebay.com/aw/ca/200803311534172.html
    “effective March 31 all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically must be listed using the Classified Ads format.”

    As a new power seller, I feel I have no choice but to report this, which will effectively end the auction. The sheriff’s in town.

41. Bob
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 6:58 am

    I think this is a great idea. If things like twitter can command real value for the effort people put into their accounts. It will mean that you can create a franchise model around these places. Why is this better? Because it will allow people to transfer ownership of the assets, think sports teams or fast food.

42. IAMPostingToSpamMyBlog
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:05 am

    @40 Chris - “As a new power seller, I feel I have no choice but to report this, which will effectively end the auction. The sheriff’s in town.”

    Someone needs to get laid. fast.

43. Chris
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    @42, do you have anybody in mind? At any rate, it’s been reported. Let’s keep ebay clean and fair for everybody.

    You know these readers are just going to unsubscribe as soon as the auction winner takes over. Ebay is supposed to be a positive experience for both the seller AND the buyer.

    This is totally unethical.

44. Joe T
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    So he’s an accomplice in his own identity theft?

    Will he continue to use the account after it’s sold, or is he selling exclusive access?

    Think of all the contacts an entrepreneur could make… Too bad he’s not still involved with Amanda Congdon!

    And why would Twitter cancel his account if it’s sold? How would they know unless someone formally notifies them?

45. Doug
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:24 am

    As one of his followers, if he sold his account to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates I’d be inclined to stay. I do think it’s not totally right in terms of privacy. But the service is free. I, for one, will wait to see who takes it over. Maybe they might be more interesting…

46. Chris
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:43 am

    “Steve Jobs or Bill Gates I’d be inclined to stay”

    Those kinds of people would never buy some else’s identity. Especially not somebody of that lesser stature. The kinds of people that are going to buy this are people that are nobody and want to upsell themselves.

    The problem is that most likely, everybody will unsubscribe.

    Not only that, but this may spark a trend of cash strapped people like Scoble(as an example, not saying he would) or other B tech celebs selling off their facebook or twitter accounts to pay for dental work or vacations.

    This isn’t like the stuff in Paris’s storage locker that was auctioned off. These are purely digital goods with no guaranty that the feed readers will stay.

47. Frank Church
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:52 am

    The # of followers is increasing, now at `1479. In the end that may change, but right now those saying others will un-follow are incorrect.

    Good, fun, lighthearted silliness for Sunday morning.

48. usrbingeek
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:55 am

    I was following Andrew and he was following me however I’ve unfollowed and blocked him. He wasn’t just selling his twitter account. He also sold any trust that his followers had.

49. Vaibhav
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:59 am

    It just crossed $500…

50. Quli
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 8:12 am

    Twitter accounts are lamer than FB apps. There is little to no valuation in one. The only reason anyone would bid on this is for a few seconds of publicity, which may be worth a whole lot more. Kudos to Andrew for being the first to do this, as this is going to be the first and the last twitter account worth anything.

51. ldersh
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 8:25 am

    twitter should bid and win the auction, close the account and change the TOS to not allow this in the future.

52. Ghaus
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 8:28 am

    I think this is Bullshit! I can make 10 twitter accounts, and work for like 6 months to make thousands of fans and then sell my accounts on eBay.
    This is like Business 2.0 … lol

53. Paul
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 8:44 am

    Hahahahahahaha. Haha…
    Latest bid is at $510.

    I too have a Twitter acct with 1500 followers!!! Any potential buyers? Lol..

54. Mark
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:24 am

    another fine moment brought to you by Free Enterprise

55. Rocketbust
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    This is a sure sign of a bubble!

    Andrew is a tool. I wonder how he even got 1400 followers.

56. Jeff Crites
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    Bidders are obviously hoping to get publicity from a winning bid. I doubt anyone is calculating “let’s see, x number of followers are worth etc”.

    Bidders are more likely calculating “let’s see, the Techcrunch effect means a winning bid of ($?) will gain me (x) eyeballs from this blog’s coverage, and ensuing hysteria on Techmeme”.

    Interesting side entertainment while watching six hours of golf today.

57. Zuzanna Pasierbinska-Wilson
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:43 am

    Andrew should really learn from Hugh McLeod. One can leave Twitter without making too much fuss, even if followed by thousands.

58. David Berkowitz
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am

    This gets into bigger issues with Baron’s brand. It completely erodes the trust of his consumers if he’s just going to sell them out to the highest bidder. If Coke or McDonald’s or Citibank did this, consumer groups would raise hell, and with any luck, Baron’s 1,400 or so consumers will do the same - if he’s really serious, once the curiosity factor dies down.

59. Jeff Crites
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 10:19 am

    @David #58

    Great point. I’m confident Seth Godin would never do this, as it flies in the face of ‘permission marketing’ and trust building.

60. Vizion Quest
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    Interesting, his followers have actually increased from 1424 to 1505 withing the last 10 hours, and the price increased from $455 to $510.

    Current Stats
    Price = $510
    Followers = 1505
    Ebay Counter = 5103

61. AW
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 11:14 am

    It’s Web 3.0!!!

    Now you can be anybody if you have enough money!

62. Carlos Leyva
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    It is what it is, just a PR play, and probably a brilliant one at that. It’s the attention economy stupid. Carville’s quote updated for the Web 2.0 universe.

63. IAMPostingToSpamMyBlog
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am

    @43 Chris, that would be you. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, sheriff.

64. Nigel Lawson
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    How much would you pay for having your start up profiled at the potential follow up article in TechCrunch?

    Because that is what the bidders are bidding for, not the account itself.

65. sickr
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    How much would you pay for having your start up profiled at the potential follow up article in TechCrunch?
    Because that is what the bidders are bidding for, not the account itself.

    You’ve hit the nail on the head my friend.

66. the dude abides
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    I guess since Rocketboom is not on the radar anymore Andrew needs his 15 min in the spotlight again. What a shill.

67. Pavlo Zahozhenko
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    $1,125.00 …. impossible but true!

68. xodusprime
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    Well, it’s the top story on Techmeme right now. So even if he doesn’t get paid the current bid of over $1,000, he still wins. As for the electronic goods. I thought the idea behind that was to prevent the distribution of easily replicated goods - to stop market flood type conditions. With the spirit of the law in mind, they may let it slide. If it were easy to replicate 1500 followers, nobody would be bidding.

69. IAMPostingToSpamMyBlog
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    @63 (fake IAMPostingtoSpamMyBlog) - thanks for stealing my username.

70. Andy Wong
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    While it is immoral to sell such account definitely, I think Twitter may simply shut down this account because of violation of the terms of the service.

71. Martin Jamieson
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

    A couple of points from the above comments…

    1) Don’t forget whoever buys it can change their twitter username… they won’t ‘become Andrew baron’
    2) Definitely agree that it has now become a bid for the publicity of winning, rather than a $/follower thing.
    3) It worries me that hackers will now see the value of twitter accounts… how many twitter tools are popping up everyday - do you ‘trust’ the ones that ask for your Twitter password to use certain parts of the API? Tweet Jacking?

72. CARversation.com
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    Good marketing.

73. Sudoku Maniac
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    Which is worth more ? A pownce account or a twitter account … both with same no of connections.. and also.. does having a nice nick like codeshepherd matter ?

74. Kingsburg Buzz
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    I think this guy is a genius! He has already gotten Techcrunch to notice him launching the Crunch effect. His web site will probably get a few thousand links from this ploy not to mention the money from the auction.

75. Matt Bowman
    

    April 13th, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    Good pr stunt and thought piece (reminds me of Chris Anderson’s press person email expose). Welcome to the credibility market.

    More thoughts here: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/26367

76. Kate
    

    April 14th, 2008 at 10:23 am

    Could be a whole new revenue line if they take a commission….

77. Dharmesh Shah
    

    April 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am

    For those watching from the sidelines, here’s a follow-up blog article:

    http://tinyurl.com/6xg65v

78. Justine
    

    April 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Does this mean I can put my future kids that I probably won’t have through college with my account?

    Andrew, you rock!

79. Randy Smythe
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    He just ended the auction, or at least that is what he said. Good luck getting anybody to follow him again.

80. Bayrak
    

    April 26th, 2008 at 10:20 am

    do you know any information about this subject in other languages?

81. Frank
    

    May 6th, 2008 at 12:56 am

    POWERSELLER Top Twitter Account für Ebay-Powersellers was put on ebay sale!