Can You Sell Your Facebook Profile?
Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 14th, 2008 10:15 AMYesterday, there was a lot of buzz about how the RocketBoom founder put his Twitter account up for sale on eBay. When I last checked, the account with 1,500 followers was going for $1,125. How about those that have twice as many friends on Facebook? Technically, selling your profile would theoretically violate Facebook’s terms of service since it would be a misrepresentation of the person using the profile.
Then again, you could switch the email address and photo and it wouldn’t be that person’s profile anymore. While I haven’t inquired into Facebook, my guess is that any sold profile would be immediately banned. Such a situation also make one wonder which profile is more valuable, a Facebook profile with 1,500 friends or a Twitter account with 1,500 followers. In my own opinion I think Twitter could be more influential but then again leveraging friends lists on Facebook can accomplish the same goals.
Ultimately, I’m not sure that you can sell any social profile. People add you as a friend on social sites because they actually know you or have similar interests. There isn’t much value once the person you wanted to connect with is not active. What do you think?
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April 14th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I think on top of the legal implications involved in selling your profile, there are significant ethical issues arising from such activities. If a profile is sold, is the purchaser (or seller) required to notify all friends/followers of the change in ownership? With Facebook, the issue is obviously much more serious, as more personal information is typically contained in users' profiles. On Twitter, I can block people who start following me to build up lists of users; but what if I don't know the true identity of the person following me? That is some very thin ice.
And most importantly, if someone is willing to spend that much money on a Twitter profile, maybe they can also lend me some money to pay back my student loans? I hate wasteful spending.
PS: The bid is up to $1525 now! Ridiculous.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I think on top of the legal implications involved in selling your profile, there are significant ethical issues arising from such activities. If a profile is sold, is the purchaser (or seller) required to notify all friends/followers of the change in ownership? With Facebook, the issue is obviously much more serious, as more personal information is typically contained in users’ profiles. On Twitter, I can block people who start following me to build up lists of users; but what if I don’t know the true identity of the person following me? That is some very thin ice.
And most importantly, if someone is willing to spend that much money on a Twitter profile, maybe they can also lend me some money to pay back my student loans? I hate wasteful spending.
PS: The bid is up to $1525 now! Ridiculous.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Is selling a Twitter profile so different from selling a blog, which is done without controversy ? Or is the next logical step ? The same ethics & questions arise about notifying followers about change of ownership etc.
And is it any use to the purchaser ? I guess yes it can be as that person is buying a ready made following which they can keep or increase if they maintain interesting content.
In this context, content sites are very different from primarily friend sites like Facebook.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Is selling a Twitter profile so different from selling a blog, which is done without controversy ? Or is the next logical step ? The same ethics & questions arise about notifying followers about change of ownership etc.
And is it any use to the purchaser ? I guess yes it can be as that person is buying a ready made following which they can keep or increase if they maintain interesting content.
In this context, content sites are very different from primarily friend sites like Facebook.