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The idea of directly engaging potential users actively seeking/asking for a particular product/service on Twitter is very interesting; but unfortunately the way

by gone35 12y ago

The idea of directly engaging potential users actively seeking/asking for a particular product/service on Twitter is very interesting; but unfortunately the way you are implementing it right now is unethical and in violation of Twitter's Automation Rules and Best Practices [1]: "Creating serial or bulk accounts with overlapping use, however, is prohibited." I initially thought you were using your company's own Twitter account for messaging people; instead, by your own admission [2], you have resorted to using multiple 'realistic' accounts: https://twitter.com/search?q=outpost.travel https://twitter.com/search?q=outpost.travel This kind of growth hacking is misleading and unethical, and I think it has no place in Hacker News. [1] https://support.twitter.com/groups/56-policies-violations/topics/237-guidelines/articles/76915-automation-rules-and-best-practices https://support.twitter.com/groups/56-policies-violations/to... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7720634 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7720634

consta 12y ago
Well you can always argue what is right and what wrong. Very true, it is a violation of the Twitter terms of services but I still appreciate it for sharing with the HN community. There has also been a post about Darkmarket (https://github.com/darkwallet/darkmarket https://github.com/darkwallet/darkmarket) on HN. Again, I do not encourage trading illegal goods at all but as a proof of concept it is still impressive.
MichaelGG 12y ago
Perhaps, but some famous startups got traction by doing such "unethical" things. IIRC even Reddit seeded their site with fake accounts and conversations. Also if the Twitter accounts are truly of the interns like the post says then it's not really that bad. In that case, it would really be an employee mentioning their employer's product.

by gone35 12y ago

consta 12y ago

Well you can always argue what is right and what wrong. Very true, it is a violation of the Twitter terms of services but I still appreciate it for sharing with the HN community. There has also been a post about Darkmarket (https://github.com/darkwallet/darkmarket https://github.com/darkwallet/darkmarket) on HN. Again, I do not encourage trading illegal goods at all but as a proof of concept it is still impressive.

MichaelGG 12y ago

Perhaps, but some famous startups got traction by doing such "unethical" things. IIRC even Reddit seeded their site with fake accounts and conversations. Also if the Twitter accounts are truly of the interns like the post says then it's not really that bad. In that case, it would really be an employee mentioning their employer's product.