Well, after a frustrating two days in a seemingly excommunicated state from Twitter, my account magically was reinstated. So the flickering of my Twitter flame has subsided and I’m glad to be reconnecting with my Tweeps on Twitter again!
So what I have I learned:
- Twitter Dependence. I’ve become dependent on Twitter for news, business ties and social connection – without it I rapidly descended into a state of despondence.
- Hacks, Viruses & Worms (oh my). Twitter is not immune to worms, viruses and hacks – I’m giving Twitter the benefit of the doubt and assuming that’s why my account was suspended.
- Not Utility-Grade. Don’t rely on Twitter for anything “mission critical.” If and when you have a problem with the service, you are unlikely to receive any response. Two days after being cut off from Twitter and submitting a reinstatement request, I still have no word from customer support as to what happened and why my account was suspended. Just glad to be back at this point.
- Don’t Fully Depend on Twitter. I’m not giving up my email, IM, blog or mobile phone anytime soon.
- Get Suspended, Grow Your Followers? Strangely enough, the number of my followers grew almost 30% while I was not able to access my account. Dunno why. If my account had been compromised and was spamming folks, perhaps it is sad proof that the technique works. Or, maybe people are drawn to my new-found, bad boy, suspended status. Or, perhaps people prefer my silence to my tweets!
If any of my Tweeps tweeted an appeal on my behalf, a heart-felt thank you! (Unfortunately I couldn’t see your deeds without account access – but you know who you are and I am grateful).
I’m happy yet cautious . . . more later.
SmokeJumping 
Congrats on coming back! I was wondering why you had to start following me again…
Question! What did you do to reinstate your account? Our company account was suspended to, and we can’t figure out why. Nobody at twitter has gotten back to us.
DM me on twitter!
Comment by Krystyl — June 4, 2009 @ 1:47 pm |
Thanks! Weird you had to start following me again.
Dunno why I got suspended nor why I got turned back on – no word from twitter. I caught wind of worm attacks over the wkd, so perhaps that is it.
Comment by @smokejumper — June 4, 2009 @ 9:39 pm |
Six (6) days after I logged my support request to Twitter, I received the following response. Note it appears my accounts was suspended due to a phishing investigation.
“Hi SmokeJumper,
Thanks for your email. Some accounts were recently suspended for phishing investigation; these accounts should now be back to normal. If your account was suspended but is now back to normal, please do not reply to this email.
If you’re writing to report spam, just visit our spam profile and send us a direct message with the spammer’s user name, here:
If you’re writing because your account was suspended, please visit your profile and make sure that your account is actually suspended. If your account is suspended, you’ll see a red box when you log in letting you know. If you don’t see a notice from Twitter, and you don’t see an owl when you visit your profile page, your account is not suspended.
We are currently working on fixing a bug that causes suspended accounts to appear in your followers list. No need for a ticket, we’re aware of and working on the problem.
If your account is suspended, please review the Twitter Rules:
http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/18311
to find out why accounts are often suspended, and visit this page to find out what to do to contest suspension:
http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/15790
Please do not reply to this email unless you need to contest a current suspension. Double check your profile to ensure that you’re actually suspended; if you need to contest suspension, please reply to this email and let us know. If you’re having a problem unrelated to suspension, please file a new request, not under Spam.
Thanks!
Twitter Support”
Comment by @smokejumper — June 6, 2009 @ 8:43 pm |
I got that email less than 24 hours after I filed a report….weird…I think I may pay a little visit straight to the offices if it doesnt get fixed by middle of the week. ugh
Comment by Krystyl — June 6, 2009 @ 9:43 pm |
Your company account is still suspended? Lemme know how the “walk by” works out!
Comment by @smokejumper — June 6, 2009 @ 11:59 pm |