Don’t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter Account

Categories: MicroMediaPosted on December 4th, 2008

I’m hearing of more and more brands starting to venture into the Twittersphere to listen, influence, and support customers. In fact, I’ve had 3-4 inquiry (client calls) at Forrester asking about Twitter for marketing.

Challenge: Anyone can Create an Twitter Account and Cause BrandJacking
A few months ago, many (myself included) were fooled by a brandjacking of “Janet” from Exxon Mobile, (see examples of others brands who were punk’d) who in reality wasn’t who she said she was. I’ve also heard from other brands that name squatters were taking corporate names and registering them, and some are saying negative things. Slow brands are often behind, and as a result have to deal with cleanup.

I’ve heard from some brands that if you contact Twitter, they will disallow anyone from registering your corporate name, but I can’t confirm this is true, if someone from Twitter wants to discuss with me how brands can best work with the microblogging tool, please let me know.

If your brand is planning on venturing into the twittersphere, after you develop a strategy based on the POST methodology, you should then confirm your twitter address so your customers and community can confirm it’s really you. Until we get a single sign on and identity verification process across the whole web, we need a way to confirm twitter accounts.

Solution: Confirm tour Corporate Twitter Account

1) Link to your twitter profile from your corporate website: Since no but official employees can edit your corporate website, this is an ‘official’ way of confirming identity. If your corporate site is Hitachi, then perhaps on the Hitachi news site, or official Hitachi blog (providing you have one) link to the Twitter account.

2) Cross link from your Twitter profile page to corporate site: Since most won’t know of the link from your corporate site, you now must update your Twitter profile (where you describe yourself) and point back to the corporate webpage that mentions the twitter account. This is called a “cross-link” and will confirm that the twitter account is official.

Are you a Twitter user? Require confirmation from brands before engaging. Anyone in the Twitter community who runs into a corporate twitter account, should point brands to this very blog post, and ask them to confirm their identity, if they don’t, ignore them. Hope this tip helps brands, consumers, and the twittersphere. Good luck all.

Update: The reason I did this post as I engaged in a conversation with Bissell, yup the vacuum company, as I was recently discussing getting a steam cleaner to deal with puppy Rumba’s number 1 spots. They approached me on Twitter (@wemeanclean) and suggested a product to me (the SpotBot), and I suggested that they confirm their identity, they have, and now have linked to their twitter account from the footer of their corporate homepage at bissel.com. Well done, you’ve now taken one more step closer to earning my trust, and I’m more likely to engage in conversation and take a closer look at your products.

Now, about those steam cleaners… I am in the market…

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 8:57 am and is filed under MicroMedia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I had a squatter sitting on the brand name for a company I work with. The account was idle (following 2, 0 following). I contacted support and Twitter released the account to us.

Posted by Chris Allison on December 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am

Excellent, that’s what I wanted to hear.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on December 4th, 2008 at 9:08 am

Great piece, thanks for sharing.

Posted by Kirsten Paragona on December 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am

This is a good way to avoid twitter users from being fooled by the “Janet’s” of the twitterverse, and the process isn’t cumbersome on businesses. Brand validation only makes sense. Thanks for initiating this!

Posted by Cheryl Smith on December 4th, 2008 at 9:11 am

@Jeremiah Our experience was similar to Chris’s. One of our franchises had registered our company name as a Twitter account. Twitter gave me the name of the individual and I was able to contact them to transfer the account to corporate HQ.

Posted by Scott Hepburn on December 4th, 2008 at 9:15 am

Great post, Jeremiah. I recently worked on setting up a Twitter account for my former company on their behalf and one of the things I did immediately (aside from registering the name on Twitter) was to put a URL and a description that read “the official account of…” People have definitely been following the account ever since. Thanks for your post.

Posted by Ken Yeung on December 4th, 2008 at 9:16 am

Get your Twitter name now or you have to buy from speculators like domain name in 90′

Posted by TechLang on December 4th, 2008 at 9:16 am

Interesting views on this topic. I believe that large brands SHOULD be on Twitter, and if someone has to jack their name to get their attention, then so be it. I’ve thought about creating an account for a brand I thought should have been on Twitter, and then use the account POSITIVELY to reinforce the benefits of being on Twitter.

Of course, I never actually did that, but how cool would it be to say “I was the reason companyXXX got onto twitter” or “Look how I positively engaged with the community for companyXXX”

That’s just my two-cents

Posted by Brandon Zeman on December 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am

I will pass this advice along to all of my clients, especially to folks who are on the fence about creating their brand profile. I hope we’ll hear more from you on this topic!

Posted by MarketingVeep on December 4th, 2008 at 9:21 am

@Problogger encounter of how he acquired his @twitip account: http://www.twitip.com/how-to-secure-unused-twitter-accounts/

Another good prominent account is @GuyKawasaki’s @alltop journey.

Posted by Damien Basile on December 4th, 2008 at 9:23 am

[...] Another fellow blogger placed an observative post today on Donâ��t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter AccountHere’s a quick excerptWeb Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing. Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers … name (required). email ( will not be shown ) (required). website … [...]

Posted by Email Marketing Strategy » Blog Archive » Don’t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter Account on December 4th, 2008 at 10:08 am

[...] How can you be sure people on the Internet are who they say they are. Interesting thoughts on Jeremiah’s blog today about “Brandjacking” with some examples of what’s happening on Twitter and [...]

Posted by Brandjacking « Don’t Go Mad on December 4th, 2008 at 10:27 am

I don’t want to be bias or anything, but you might want to claim your full name on Twitter as well for personal branding purposes

Posted by Dan Schawbel on December 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am

[...] Another fellow blogger added an interesting post on Donâ��t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter AccountHere’s a small excerptWeb Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing. Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers … name (required). email ( will not be shown ) (required). website … [...]

Posted by Email Marketing Systems » Blog Archive » Don’t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter Account on December 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am

[...] Don’t get BrandJacked: Confirming Your Corporate Twitter Account [...]

Posted by Brandhacking versus brandjacking in social media. -- Hoover’s Business Insight Zone on December 4th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

Dan

You’re right, one should confirm their own identity

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on December 4th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

“Until we get a single sign on and identity verification process across the whole web”

Is such a system practical? There are a surprising number of folks legally named “Dale Larson.” Which of us should be entitled to our name across the Internet? I get it in many places, but not in others. Even many trademarked brands, such as Apple Computer and Apple Records would have a conflict.

It seems more likely that even if single sign-on predominates through OpenID and Facebook Connect, etc., it’ll still be a first-come-first-served world, and lots of companies and individuals will be legitimately forced to choose a second-best name.

Posted by Dale Larson on December 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

Jeremiah,

Spot on, as usual. I retweeted this for my tweeple, since you deliver value (again!).

I’ve seen some “black hat” tricks with which I don’t agree; this is a fine example of one…

Thanks for sharing. Consumer, beware. Verify.

Regards,
Cheri
@CheriSigmon

Posted by Cheri Sigmon on December 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

Jeremiah,
We found our corporate name had been registered on Twitter, and were able to get it released to us… Now we have it, but don’t have the staff (or the policies!) to support doing much more than re-posting something from one of our corporate RSS feeds there. Our first step was to post our company URL and mission description. I’ve been slowly following people who tweet our name on that account (i.e. became members or were certified), but we’re only now beginning to articulate goals and who’s responsible for what. So really, we’re approaching the process backwards after we discovered we’d been brand hijacked (though there wasn’t anything posted to the account that we could tell) and are having to scramble to learn best practices and assign roles.

Just another perspective.
Thanks!
Tonya

Posted by Tonya on December 4th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

I wish it was as easy to get squatters off of YouTube accounts!

Posted by resa on December 4th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Jeremiah:

Grab your full name and just put up a single tweet on that account, directing people to your @jowyang account. That’s what Connie Bensen (@cbensen) does. Check out: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieBensen

Bryan Person | @BryanPerson

Posted by Bryan Person on December 4th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

Here is an article you might want to read on this very topic, discussed by a firm that specializes in ID certification:

When Seth Godin isn’t Seth Godin
http://blog.myid.is/66/myidis/when-seth-godin-isn/?t-seth-godin/

The interesting thing is that they HAVE their own network; every single member has had his ID certified. And the beauty of it all: the tech can be applied on any Platform, with any account.

Imagine that…

Posted by LIna DeMartinez on December 4th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Bryan

Thanks, done

http://twitter.com/jeremiahowyang

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on December 4th, 2008 at 4:38 pm

There you go! Nobody can punk you Twiter now. By the way, came to this reply box through a list of your comments on BackType.com.

Posted by Bryan Person on December 4th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Bryan, anyone can create a fake jowyang account to cause havoc, no one is safe, but I agree, securing personal names are a first step.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on December 5th, 2008 at 3:31 am

I have made several attempts to contact Twitter in order to get my company’s brand name back from a non active account using my company’s one word brand name. . .3 followers - I’m one - no updates and no way to contact. Any suggestions to get a response from Twitter?

Posted by Liz on December 5th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Liz

Have you tried get satisfication?

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on December 5th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

[...] Continued at Web Strategy by Jeremiah. [...]

Posted by Don’t get BrandJacked: Confirming your corporate Twitter account « GaryNielson.com on December 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

[...] can you be sure people on the Internet are who they say they are? Interesting thoughts on Jeremiah’s blog today about “Brandjacking” with some examples of what’s happening on Twitter and [...]

Posted by Dont Go Mad » Blog Archive » Brandjacking on December 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am

I also haven’t been able to get my company’s name back from a non-active account on Twitter. Have gotten in touch with Twitter and haven’t received any response. Any suggestions?

Posted by Jason on December 8th, 2008 at 9:59 am

This is a great article and something I’ve been discovering as I’ve been researching social media brand presence opportunities. This is a best practice all companies should be aware of and you’ve articulated it beautifully.

I’m a big fan and plan to follow you now!

Posted by Chad Estes on December 8th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

[...] using your company’s name and responding as if they were your company. Jeremiah Owyang has a good article on this you should [...]

Posted by Michael G Cohen’s Thoughts & Ramblings » Blog Archive » Feedback - Your Time Is Now on December 8th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

It also applies to groups. I’ve just registered @linkedinblogger for the LinkedIn Bloggers group on Yahoo! Groups: would have been @linkedinbloggers but there is a 15 char limit (except for own real names for which there is provision for up to 20 chars).

Posted by Des Walsh on December 12th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

[...] a secondary benefit, it helps us from getting “brand jacked” (as Jeremiah Owang puts it). Including the link on our corporate site reinforces that the RD2inc Twitter account is indeed [...]

Posted by Which widgets: what content is really valuable in your Blog’s side bar? — Archive — RD2 Blog on December 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Bryan,

Thankyou.

http://twitter.com/mtata23

Posted by Madhusudan Tata on December 20th, 2008 at 3:34 am

[...] Finally, social media sage Jeremiah Owyang has catalogued the entire Janet/ExxonMobil affair pretty well (as he does). His key takeaways are worth reading. So too are his suggestions about confirming your corporate Twitter account. [...]

Posted by Hijacking brands on Twitter with hilarious consequences (and some tips about what to do when it happens to you) « The life and times of Jordan Stone on January 5th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

[...] Sure the idea of entering into the Social Media realm is a little daunting. Ok, it’s a lot daunting. With all of the new tools springing up on a daily basis it’s hard to get a grip on what is a fad, what will stick around, and what is worth exploring a bit further. This is still totally true. There are lots of social media tools out there, each clamoring to be the “next big thing”– it’s not imperative that you have a presence on EVERY site. But, it is imperative that you’re aware of as many mentions of your brand on those sites as possible. Go where your audience is. If you have a lot of people talking about your product on Twitter, you should definitely have a Twitter account to begin engaging these users. However, if you did a search for your brand and see that no one has mentioned your brand on Twitter, you might want to just stake your claim on your brand’s ID on Twitter so you don’t get “brandjacked.” [...]

Posted by The Emerging Role: Community Manager « Ideas on community, collaboration, and tech on January 14th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

would love to see something like this for google local business. It’s a royal pita to try to “claim” all of your locations if you have 10000+ listings for your company.

Posted by jwalk on January 31st, 2009 at 11:26 am

you are so right. I created 3 twitter ids for my employer back in April 2008. I wanted to make sure that when we were ready to use twitter, we would have our name.

We are still not there yet but we have the Twitter id and when we go live on twitter we will also have that information on our corporate web site on at least two pages.

One of the problems many companies have is the fact that many companies have the same name. That is why I had to do what I did.

Thanks the good advice and what should have been obvious to all of us using social media.

@dmgerbino

Posted by David Gerbino on January 31st, 2009 at 11:29 am

The BBC is a great example of this.

Posted by SDC on January 31st, 2009 at 1:07 pm

[...] Start small, and go step by step. Perhaps set up an internal blog - consider creating some posts but not making the blog itself public at first. You might set up a Twitter account using an alias - although authenticity is vital in this sphere. N.b. you may find that someone else is already using your name or falsely commenting on your behalf. [...]

Posted by Web 2.0 articles in bdaily #5 - How: Souter Consulting Limited | Souter Consulting Limited on February 4th, 2009 at 5:58 am

Illustrates some interesting points. I think a lot of brands jumping into social media and Twitter perhaps don’t have individuals with experience running the accounts. That’s why I made it a point to spend time in the space as myself (where the risks to my company’s brand are minimal) and could learn some simple rules of engagement. It benefits what I do with our company account in so many ways.

It came naturally to me to link our company Twitter account to our company blog.

This brandjacking emphasis is getting a lot more press though. I got an e-mail from someone the other day inquiring whether or not we had profiles on certain accounts, for branding reasons. So it’s a good message to get out there.

Now the question becomes, if Twitter starts charging companies for using Twitter, how do they define “company use”? We will see a lot more conversation on this topic with that rumor spreading around.

Posted by Tiffany Monhollon on February 10th, 2009 at 10:39 am

[...] schmerzhaft erfahren mussten, wurden sie oder ihre Marken aufgrund von Tatenlosigkeit “brandjacked“: Auf Twitter haben sich Nutzer Namen angelegt, um wie die in ein paar Tagen berühmt [...]

Posted by NPO- Blogparade Nr. 5: Ein Wort zu den Verwaltungskosten im gemeinnützigen Sektor « bresgun on March 5th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

[...] att invänta respons från Twitter. Hur snabbt det går har jag ingen information om, men enligt kommentarer hos bland andra Jeremiah Owyang så verkar processen ha gått relativt smärtfritt. Related Posts:Com Hems haveri förstärks på [...]

Posted by Sociala medier » Blog Archive » Så får du tillbaka ditt kapade varumärke på Twitter on May 6th, 2009 at 5:04 am