This past week, there has been a new scheme on Twitter to gain more followers.

It’s called TweeterGetter. If you’re on Twitter, you’ve probably seen a number of messages from people talking about getting 19,530 new followers in 30 days.

Some people think that it’s a good idea. Who wouldn’t want a bunch of followers?

But, let’s look at it closely. When you sign up, you’ll automatically follow the six people ahead of you in line. Then, you’ll tweet a message encouraging people to sign up under you. If, for example, you get 5 people to sign up under you, you’ll get 5 new followers. If each of those people signs up 5 people, you’ll get 25 more followers. And, if each of those people signs up 5 people under them, you’ll get 125 new followers. And so on down the line until you reach 19,530 new followers. Or even more!

Some are calling this a new and innovative idea.

But, let’s call it what it really is: a pyramid scheme. Even though no money is involved, it’s still the basic thing. Instead of luring people with the promise of money, they are luring people with the promise of more followers.

Remember, years ago (and maybe even sometimes still, even though it’s illegal), there were chain letters promising you thousands of dollars in a matter a weeks, just by sending out a few dollars? There was a list of names. You were to send each person on the list $1. Then, you were to type up a new letter, removing the top name from the list, moving everyone else up on slot, and adding yourself at the bottom. Then, you were to send out a bunch of those letters. If just five of those people participated, and each of them were to get five, and so on, you’d be getting cash in the mail every day!

Do you know anyone that ever got tons of money that way? Probably not.

Mind you, some people would try to cheat by adding themselves to the top of the list, but even those that followed the rules didn’t end up getting money in their mailbox every day.

Pyramid schemes only really benefit the people at the top of the list. In many ways, it’s a lot like multi-level marketing; if you’re the one at the bottom, you’ll never reap the benefits as the people way ahead of you.

You might argue that, well, this is automated. People can’t cheat. But, as illustrated above, that doesn’t really matter. Even when people followed the rules, the people sending out letters at the bottom of the list were never the ones that gained massive amounts of money. It’s not about saturation, as some might argue; it’s about participation. And, the fewer letters you would have sent out, the lower your response would have been.

The same goes for you on Twitter. The fewer followers you have to begin with, the fewer that will signup under you. And, if you end up retweeting your signup link over and over again, and pushing it on your blog and other online accounts, the more you’re going to be looking like a spammer. Sure, it may not meet the technical definition of spam, but spam is defined more by the eyes of the beholder than it is by the dictionary! And, who wants to follow a spammer?

On top of that, how targeted are these followers? Are they really interested in what you have to say, or are they largely interested in building up their following numbers? Some argue that it’s very targeted. I’ve seen several people saying that Internet marketers are the only ones that would be interested in such a scheme. So, they argue, if your targeted audience is Internet marketers, then this will be great for you.

However, that is verifiably false. Just do a search on search.twitter.com, and search for “tweetergetter.com” to find people that are tweeting their signup pages. Check out their Twitter profiles. While it is true there is a large percentage of Internet marketers on there, you’ll see that many people are participating who are not Internet marketers.

So, if you do have a target audience of Internet marketers, there is a potential to reach a number of them. But, it is not as targeted as you might think. And, if your target audience is not Internet marketers, this scheme will be even less valuable for you, as most of the new followers you’ll be gaining are not people interested in your product or service at all.

The only real target audience here is people looking to increase the number of people following them, and that’s not really much of a “target” audience at all.

If you participate in such a scheme, you risk annoying your current followers (who are probably a much more valuable and targeted audience than what you are likely to receive from this scheme, especially if you are not into Internet marketing). You risk your credibility too, as people will wonder if you’re more interested in quantity of followers rather than quality.

On top of that, anytime you give your Twitter password to a third-party, you risk the security of your account. I am NOT saying that this service will do anything bad with your password; I just say this as a general statement.

What happens if a third-party site that has your password is hacked? Imagine the damage that could be done! And, if you’re one of those people that uses the same password for everything, hackers could get into more than just your Twitter account.

These are important considerations to bear in mind when using any third-party Twitter tool. This is general advice, and not directed at any particular Twitter site or service. But, guard your password carefully! And, please, use a different password for every online service you use.

Services like TweeterGetter may be attractive, because they’re free and easy to do, but sometimes free services carry too high a price!

Fortunately, you don’t have to use a service like TweeterGetter to amass a huge following. It may take a little more work and time, but you’ll probably be better served with a following you’ve amassed naturally than by one gained through a questionable scheme.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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