Why You Should Never, Ever Hinge Your Brand, Organization, Cause or Identity Around Twitter or Facebook

“The power of the internet is truly amazing.”

The internet. Not Twitter. Not Facebook. Not Foursquare. The internet.

There’s been some discussion recently about how websites are no longer needed, how all a brand needs is a Facebook page, about how one can build an entire business around a Twitter account. If your brand is drinking this Kool-Aid, you are making a horrible, potentially fatal mistake.

Newsflash: You do not own your Twitter or Facebook account and either can be taken away from you and given to someone else.

Websites should always be a brand’s Mother Ship, with Facebook, Twitter, etc. seen as extensions of your brand. Why? Because you have ownership of your site and your domain. It is an IP asset. Your Twitter and Facebook accounts are not.

They are not your property, and as such, your brand is at the mercy of Twitter and Facebook where control of said accounts is concerned. And it doesn’t take much for that control to be taken away from you overnight.

So you think you own your twitter name ?

Chances are you don’t, chances are you could have it taken away from you at any moment or have it changed by twitter adding an underscore to it. So what does it matter, it’s only a twiter account after all. Wrong, your twitter account can be your main online presence, your main identity that people know you by and your main contact.

Suppose you’ve spent 2 years building an international reputation, have thousands of follower, some of own are leaders in their fields, some of who are close friends. Overnight their contact books are out of date, overnight their DM messages no longer go to you but some third party, overnight any archived Follow Friday tags #FF are out of date, overnight your on line reputation has gone. And worse, think how many resources you will need to update, business cards, linkedin, Skype and thats not to mention your presence in search engines. Can’t happen here ? It can and it has.

Full article: http://ac31004.blogspot.com/2011/03/so-you-think-you-own-your-twitter-name.html