By Michelle Riggen-Ransom (follow her @mriggen) from the blogs BatchBlue Software and Pop!Tech.
If you are old enough, you probably remember the Sleestacks from the old sci-fi series “Land of the Lost”. Bug-eyed, reptilian creatures, they hated bright light and rarely ventured out during the day, preferring to stalk their human quarry under cover of darkness.
Now that social media in general and Twitter specifically is going more mainstream, it seems like the Sleestacks are scurrying out of their dark corners in increasing numbers. So what does being a social media Sleestack in mean? It means operating in ways that are nefarious at best, dishonest as worst.
As any good Twitterer will tell you, the folks who have been using Twitter for a while can spot a Sleestack a superhighway away. You know the type: they’ve got numbers in their Twitter handles and cleavage in their avatar. Most of the Tweets are either self-promotional and/or irrelevant and there is little, if any, dialogue with anyone else (which is sort of the whole point of Twitter).
A couple of recent examples of Sleestackian activity have come up in my social media world. I’m both a small business owner and a blogger, so I use Twitter in a number of different ways. One of things I use it for is to communicate with PR folks and other bloggers. A recent Twitter pitch was from a self-identified “fan” of our blog, who encouraged us to check out a hot new social media site that, he assured me, was generating lots of buzz. He encouraged me to Google it and see what folks were saying about this slick new site.
Well…I thought something smelled a bit like a lizard so instead of Googling the site, I Googled the guy’s name. This is how I found out that not only did he have the same last name as the site’s founder, but he was listed as an intern of the company on his LinkedIn page. Sleestack alert! The nice thing is, thanks to largely (and perhaps ironically) to social media, the truth about someone is usually just a click or two away.
Another instance is a little less clear-cut and a little more nefarious, which to me makes it even more Sleestackian. One of our competitors posted a fairly nasty post on his blog accusing our company of doing things we weren’t doing. We did a little sleuthing and found out that not only is he following our company on Twitter, he is following every single one of our followers. We had to laugh – didn’t this guy have his own customers to service? Still, he’s a prime example of what I call a Sleestack; rather than having an open dialogue with his own community, he’s using social media to bully, intimidate and steal.
So how can you avoid being a Sleestack? I’ve written a longer piece about The BeeGees of Social Media on our company blog, but here’s the high-level:
- Be real. If you work for a company or have an association with them, be upfront about it.
- Build your own network. Sure all is fair in love and business, but the old rules of list-buying and customer-stealing don’t really apply in social media. You’re far better off with a network of people who have opted to follow you because of the value you are providing them rather than trying to skim from other’s networks.
- Be nice. This one is pretty obvious, but social media is about relationships. If you can’t be nice, no one is going to want you in their network or to do business with you. Besides, a little competition is good for you!
Admittedly, the rules of how to use Twitter are still being written (and re-written and written again!) But if you follow the tips outlined above, at least no one will be able to accuse you of being a social media Sleestack.
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Michelle Riggen-Ransom is a writer who focuses on social media, technology, small business, communication and increasingly, the intersection of those topics. She is the Blogger-in-Chief for Pop!Tech, and also co-founder and Communications Director for BatchBlue Software, which makes online tools for small businesses. Having lived at various times in Boston, London, Rome, Florida, Los Angeles and Seattle, Michelle currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and their two budding naturalist/techies.
@thetwittech
Rule #3 Be Nice, I think so many people overlook this step, just because you are not face-to-face with that person, and instead sitting behind a computer, it still does not mean you should treat people any different than if you were right in front of them, be nice = make friends, just like in the “real world”;).
@cbedon
Communication is key, as long as you be social and interact you will not be a “sleestack.”
@Scamtypes
I’ve not had to deal with those sorts of Sleestacks but am becoming increasingly frustrated at the number of people who follow me and then unfollow as soon as I follow back.
Can anyone recommend a good tool for dealing with such people?
@thejimgaudet
I use Twitter for a couple reasons. One is obviously to promote my blog, but more importantly I try to follow the “important” people in the tech industry. I notice that I can get the new News much faster by following the right people. How do you think I got to this post?? Twitter of course, way before my RSS is updated!
For me Google used to be the fast way to get information, now it’s Twitter…
@mrbusinessgolf
Great post.
I am afraid that in order to get Sleestacks from joining forces with the Daleks in take over the universe, there needs to be some punitive measures taken by sites like Twitter and Facebook to keep them being effective. Until there is this subspecies will continually grow from the many people who look for controversial ways to be different.
@NateDesmond
I think that eventually they will leave because nobody will follow them.
@jayrmarlin
Good read. I agree with all 3 of your suggestions. Early on I kind of shot myself in the foot with MyBlogLog. I was a Sleestack (and am old enough to remember them
. Lately I’ve been trying to build on my network of people. I guess you can teach an old Sleestack new tricks.
@hectorhenry17
Wao i feel like a Sleestack because i have tree twitter account and two of them exist just to promote my blogs post. They are @blinkyit and @thebenchs well i will have to see what id o to don’t look like and stop be a Sleestack.
Than you for the pots great.
@LoneWolfMuskoka
I have to agree with @Nate. As Twitter users learn to stop following and using block and dm’s to spam the return on this kind of stuff will force them to go elsewhere.
This may change again as Twitter becomes more mainstream since there will be a larger, less tech-savvy audience but I doubt it. I think that the opt-in nature of Twitter is what will keep this type of stuff to a minimum.
@digistar
I don’t think there is anything you can do about it. If the technology allows people to do it, they will use it for as long as they perceive getting value out of it.
Of course one should not be surprised either that if you twitter on the public internet other people might be interested in follwing you even if they have no idea who you are. Better get used to it.
In the blogworld these people can also be compared to those who read blogs & dicussions but do not actively partcipate in them; the so-called ‘lurkers’.
New technology will always be used in ways it was not intended. And better so. In fact, SMS is very good example of that.
@parksdesign
I think what I hate the most are the people that begin to follow you but then never reply to you when you speak to them. It’s like they just followed you to inflate their follower list—like some emo teen building his 10,000 strong friends list on myspace.
@tereneta
And some of us are old enough to have completely forgotten about Sleestacks (along with most of the rest of the Sid and Marty Krofft oeuvre) until you brought it up again
.
Actually, no, it’s the trailer for the June 2009 Will Farrell movie that brought it back into my consciousness, but kudos for jumping on the LOL bandwagon early just in case it’s a monster hit and the word “sleestack” re-enters the national consciousness.
I’ll give you a dollar if you can write an article using Sigmund and the Sea Monster as your jumping off point for analyzing Twitter.
@amandagbeals
I love the Sleestack analogy. The truth be told if someone is wasting time trying to build a disingenuous following, they are missing the rich dialgoue and learning that can take place. I think Oscar Wilde said it best, “You would be a fool to not judge a book by its cover.” The Sleestacks are usually pretty transparent. Again, thank you for simply using the word Sleestack. It has made my day.
@bellboy19
I’m new to twitter and won’t lie, its pretty intimidating. Any advice on getting the ball rolling?
Seems like some people feel that Twitter will become a threat to Google in the future. I don’t know that I’d go that far.
Saw a video the other day saying “If something big is going on in the world, you can get information about it from Twitter.” While I agree with that, I don’t know that it will replace Google.
Here’s the link: http://www.newsy.com/videos/twitter_a_new_google/
@drmomentum
I’m just starting to realize that I should not feel guilty about not following someone who is more interested in promoting themselves than in bringing value to their tweets. I get value out of my twitter stream in a large number of ways, but it seems that some people are way too focused on self-promotion. I don’t care if you tweet your latest blog post, but I see people doing that multiple times.
Worse: I hate it when they get someone else to tweet their latest blog post and then they retweet that person’s tweet as if the link is about something else entirely. How disingenuous.
It’s as you said: be real. A little self-promotion goes a long way, but do it honestly in a straightforward manner and make it only a part of your contribution.
Great post!
@huzzah70
Damn…a number in my handle. I’m half a sleestack! Seriously, thanks for the post. I use twitter mostly socially, but I’m trying to get my organization up to speed on its advantages in these final few months I’m associated with it.
Thanks again.
@solitarypanda
interesting.. i just joined twitter yesterday and i knew there was some etiquette involved.. thanks for the tips. this is helpful to me.
@phixed
great points but i must let the geek-flag fly and point out it’s spelled ’sleestak’.
@seandaily
I never understood why Will Penny et all ran from those things. I mean, the crossbow bolts shot like 5 feet before they dropped to the ground, I doubt they could have penetrated flesh.
@johnflurry
I love the confessions of sleestacks here. At least you know what you are doing and are willing to change. People we are still stuck in the old ways of marketing. Because most people think that interruptions are the only way to get a message out, they naturally resort to that on a format like twitter. I can’t tell you though how much farther your voice will go if you slowly build a network organically. True friends and colleagues will gladly spread it for you. Great article!
John
@josephgelb
I see too much of people working for companies trying to manipualte the web. Whenever I hear something positive about anything I know that the person saying it is working for the company.
@mriggen
Hi everyone! Wow, so happy everyone is enjoying the post. I’m especially glad to see some self-identified Sleestaks vowing to mend their ways!
@Steve There are a lot of great resources out there about getting started with Twitter.For a start, I suggest following Laura Fitton (@pistachio) on Twitter and reading her blog: http://pistachioconsulting.com/ Also, you might try Tweeting the question “What’s your favorite post on getting started with Twitter?” You sure to get a lot of interesting replies!
@Adam – You know what? You’re right, it is Sleestak. At least this way, I won’t get sued by anyone
@Tim re: Seamonsters. Hmm, you’ve given me a great idea…
Thanks again everyone, I’m glad there are still so many non-Sleestaks out there in the Twittosphere!
@ElisaLeung
That’s so true, couldn’t stop laughing after i read your article.
cool pics…very true….social media is great, but following everyone’s conversation is difficult…imagine 50 to 100 people at a party..you won’t be giving them all individual attention. just let your personality shine through and eventually all the frenzied activity will winnow out. if everyone is going in the same direction, i’m the type of person who will be going the opposite way. i don’t do it to be irritating. i just find life more interesting when you are interacting with REAL people instead of those who do something because someone told them what to do.
@RonBorg
I know this mortgage loan officer that puts the exact same advertisement on Facebook nearly every day. So before I hid him from my view, I commented and said, “Jeez, Todd, stop advertising and join the conversation!”. His response? He said he gets so many inquiries from it that there’s no way he will stop! So do I not believe him? I don’t know… I see no reason for him to lie. Can you really get business by just sending out the same darn message everyday? I hope not. I’d like to think a bit more creativity is needed. What do you think?
@18aproductions
Hehe, very funny and true. I wonder how many Twitter users are genuine users and how many are Sleestacks, that’s what puts me off really… I need to invest more time myself in social media, it’s just that it’s soo time consuming. I wish there were several versions of me sometimes. One would spend all my time coding, the other ‘talking’ and blogging on social media sites, and the third version of me would probably be traveling the world, baking and leaning to speak Italian! Alas there is only one version of me though, and running a business and keeping our clients happy takes up quite enough of my time…
I just came from your small business directory site by the way, nice idea.