Comments on: Twitter Could Be a Problem for Some Marketers

By: David Reich

David Reich — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:20:01 +0000

Todd, I don”t think Ad Age intended their story as tongue in cheek. My point is there could be a problem here and liquor companies will need to do a careful job monitoring who visits their sites. As I point out, Michelob did.
The porn site info was just what I said — an aside. If you took that mention as my placing blame on the liquor companies, you missed the tongue in cheek subtle intent.

By: Todd Randolph

Todd Randolph — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:58:30 +0000

1) did the title for this column get misedited? or was “twitter could be a problem for marketers of products and services that are age-restricted” too awkward-sounding? 2) the ad age article mr. reich cites talks about underage drinkers ‘desperate to read’ beer company tweets about food pairings. I’m pretty sure it’s said tongue in cheek, but it is pretty subtle and I can see how a casual reader might be fooled into taking it seriously. 3) “just as an aside,” does mr. reich hold the beer companies responsible for the porn followers his fake teen attracted?

By: Jeanne Byington

Jeanne Byington — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:13:05 +0000

I agree with Shelly P. How much digging must a company do to confirm a person’s age? Anyone who can figure out how to do such checks efficiently, without breaking privacy laws, will be one of the next gazillionaires.
Meanwhile, social media enables all sorts of flimflammery–from 50 year old predators pretending to be tweens to goodness knows what else. You noted that your teen Twitter persona was immediately followed by purveyors of porn. Are you asking for Twitter to forbid liquor companies from posting tweets as cigarette manufacturers are forbidden to advertise on TV?

By: Shelly P

Shelly P — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:29:13 +0000

Good to see Michelob is being careful, but what is to stop a teenager from lying about his age? These companies should be careful with their use of social media or they could end up being banned like, as you said, they were from TV.