Twitter Dangers

[DuaneJackson]

I posted a few days ago about the power of Twitter as a marketing tool.

Well, here's a story on the dangers of twitter.

I posted earlier today about a site I know of that have produced a great little product linking OSCommerce to KashFlow

Do you use OSCommerce? You should check out this site: http://is.gd/mSe9

Someone I talk to on Twitter (and infact got a mention and a link in the other thread) is dahowlett.

We had the following conversaton. Now bear in mind that as far as I am aware, I'm just having an inconsequential conversation on Twitter whilst going about my day - not being interviewed, not being asked for a formal response to anything

Originally Posted by dahowlett

@DuaneJackson BTW - has there been some gratuitous inflation? 15K SMB accounts in KF or total body count?

This is in reference to a claim somewhere on the site I linked to saying we have 15k customers. dahowlett is well aware of my blog post a few weeks back saying we have 2,500 paying customers.

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

@dahowlett sounds like some gratuitious inflation - not by me though!

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

@dahowlett certainly had considerably more than 20k potential punters through the door. Not all have stuck though

Originally Posted by dahowlett

@DuaneJackson - which number am I supposed to parse? 15K, 20K...some other number?

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

@dahowlett whichever you like. 15k isn't my number. we have ~3k paying. >20k through the door over the years

Originally Posted by dahowlett

@DuaneJackson - so in other words you have no control over your partners' ability to quote correct numbers?

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

@dahowlett Our API is public http://is.gd/hFbz - anyone can write apps for it. Doesn't make them "partners" or make us responsible 4 them

AndI thought that was the end of it.

But a little later he posts:

Originally Posted by dahowlett

OK @DuaneJackson: time for a slap: http://bit.ly/FH9hQ

If you click through then you'll see a post on his blog which is what I think they call "a hatchet job"

I'm quoted out of context and made to look like I'm sayng all sorts and giving flippant answers. Obviously if I was asked for a considered response (to the actual questions posed on the blog and written next to my "responses") I would have answered properly.

To confirm the malicious intent, he later posts on Twitter:

Originally Posted by dahowlett

Anyone else fancy giving a vendor a good slapping? http://bit.ly/FH9hQ

and

Originally Posted by dahowlett

@DuaneJackson - to be 100% clear: much more interested in delighted users than listening to you slagging off competitors

The moral of the story? Be careful how you respond to questions on Twitter, even if they are from people you may consider to be "friendlies"

I think it's meant to be teaching me some sort of lesson about our very public 'battle' with Sage.

But this is a guy who doesn't get marketing. His response to me about one of my most popular (and deliberatley controversial) blog posts - "Why are designers not good at business" - was along the lines of "Why don't you just get a designer in and stop moaning about it?"

Luckily for me his blog is only read by people in my industry (competitors, etc) and is of no interest to my potential customers. And those that do read it are bright enough to see the post for what it is.

But it could have been worse for me if it was done by someone with a decent size readership of relevance to me

Don't say you haven't been warned!

[PointandStare]

Why are you giving out confidential company info to a complete stranger?

[DuaneJackson]

What's the confidential info? The user numbers? They're in the public domain - no secrets there

[PointandStare]

Ah. OK. Apologies then as I wasn't aware.

[DuaneJackson]

Originally Posted by PointandStare

Ah. OK. Apologies then as I wasn't aware.

No probs. I'm happy for the numbers to be out there. That's what's a bit annoying about the insinuations in that blog post. I think I'm quite transparent about these things

Speaking of transparency, he doesn't say he owns 10% of a direct competitor to KashFlow called FreeAgent Central (an excellent product for freelancers/contractors btw, but look our for Crunch soon too). He occasionally mentions he owns a "tiny" piece of it - but a tenth is a big piece in my book

[faststaff]

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

No probs. I'm happy for the numbers to be out there. That's what's a bit annoying about the insinuations in that blog post. I think I'm quite transparent about these things

Speaking of transparency, he doesn't say he owns 10% of a direct competitor to KashFlow called FreeAgent Central (an excellent product for freelancers/contractors btw, but look our for Crunch soon too). He occasionally mentions he owns a "tiny" piece of it - but a tenth is a big piece in my book

I do like the "Tax Timeline" on their Video. Very good idea.

[dahowlett]

Duh? The facts speak for themself. Deal with those and we can have an intelligent conversation.

[dahowlett]

Originally Posted by DuaneJackson

What's the confidential info? The user numbers? They're in the public domain - no secrets there

What 'facts'? You've said yourself that carrytheone has posted 4 different sets. You say 20K+ but that's way loose. What are 'we' supposed to believe?

[faststaff]

Originally Posted by dahowlett

What 'facts'? You've said yourself that carrytheone has posted 4 different sets. You say 20K+ but that's way loose. What are 'we' supposed to believe?

How is any company - or individual, as I suspect that is more your motivation - reasonably expected to control everything written about them or their company?

[dahowlett]

Duane - you can slag me off as much as you want but the bottom line is that I am not a vendor but an observer/analyst in this field with 30+ years' experience. Argue the facts rather than trying to diss me down on innuendo. You do yourself and your company no credit trying to argue otherwise.