Twatted? Tweetjacked? Twunted?

We got Twatted on Friday, if that’s the correct usage for being nobbled by rogue Twitterers. Tweetjacked? Twunted?
 
Whatever, a former employee - one has to assume - created a Twitter account in the name of LBi UK and started tweeting negatively about the agency.
 
How did we guess it was a former employee? Well, for a start, the Profile (description of account holder) read ‘a really shit employer’, which kind of gave us an inkling that someone had had a negative experience here.

And then there were a couple of negative comments that showed some inside knowledge about the agency - a particular irritation with the new brand positioning around ‘believability’ was evident.
 
The links to negative/ambiguous press were fair enough - here they are again, for the avoidance of any doubt or wish to hide them - the Margin story and the ePR story. We don’t necessarily agree with the deductions of the ‘margin’/'headcount’ story (and see also here for the whole story on LBi’s strong performance globally in 2008, especially in the UK); but we’re quite proud of the PR announcement.
 
For reasons not fully articulated - quite hard at 140 characters, admittedly - ‘LBiUK’ didn’t like it, though it appeared to be more on grounds of bad journalism than any particular problem with this fast-growing part of the New Marketing landscape.
 
So what did we do about our Twunting friend/enemy? Well, we blogged about it here, for one. We started talking about whether we need to claim our own formal Twitter identity and start using it - we do.
 
And reluctantly - but unavoidably, given shareholder responsibility, etc. - we requested Twitter close the account on grounds of defamation and misrepresentation. There were issues with illegal use of company logo and other assets too.
 
But it was reluctantly, because we haven’t got anything to hide, and also, there’s always quite a lot of appetite for a forceful and forthright discussion at LBi - especially about LBi. The important thing, I think, for everyone here, was that we didn’t try and hush it up and quietly ‘dispose of the problem’.
 
I was quite impressed when I found that ‘LBiUK’ had already disappeared on Saturday morning, since there’s been a fair bit of publicly voiced concern about Twitter’s inability to police itself in real time, and we were told it might be six weeks before anything could be done…

Then again, I now note that Twitter are not taking any responsibility for this and the request hasn’t been dealt with yet - so maybe ‘LBiUK’ has merely slipped back into the shadows, pending another ‘attack’…
 
The most disappointing thing for me was that this could have been done a lot better - funnier, sharper, less petty. ‘LBi UK is a shit employer’? Hardly sparkling repartee, is it?

And ‘LBiUK’, if you’re reading this, please: if you want to have a pop at LBi because you didn’t enjoy working here and think we don’t do things right and hate our new positioning - bring it on, basically. We welcome constructive criticism, always. Only be a mensch, wouldja, and do it in your own name like a grown-up, not in ours, like a child, yeah?
 
By hiding behind LBi branding and identity, you’re doing nothing but the equivalent of shouting rude names from a safe distance and then running away sniggering, like a guilty 12-year-old. This is just a little unbecoming, a bit facile - mildly amusing, but not particularly damaging to us, advantageous to you, or demonstrative of much wit or savvy.