Twitter: Friends For Sale

When it's all said and done, Andrew Baron might not even sell his Twitter account. But whether he does or not, Baron has stirred up plenty of questions about the meaning of community and the value of an online audience.

On Apr. 12, Baron put his Twitter account up for sale to the highest bidder on eBay. Twitter is the service that lets subscribers send quick notes (limited to 140 characters, or about 20 words) to the cell phones and Web sites of people who have decided to follow them. Baron joined Twitter a year ago and, as the co-founder of the pioneering online video series Rocketboom, he quickly had 1,400 people sign up to get his postings, one of the biggest crowds of followers on the service.

Last Word:  Clearly, some folks have just too much time on their hands.  With that said, this raises an interesting trend in light of the emerging power of “influence” marketing.  Clearly, Andrew Baron is an influencer and is connected to many other influencers in the technology space.  Getting access to that network of peer influencers is worth something to many people.  What would someone pay for your Facebook or MySpace profile?

 

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