On the last day of Java Jazz Festival, I met an old friend who is now an Indonesian Android users community activist, Agus Hamonangan. During our conversation, he asked a question that has been under my observation for quite some time, about an activity that emerged as an effect from the rising social media trend: buzzer and also paid tweet phenomenon in Indonesia that leads to the trend of buying and selling followers especially on Twitter.

Agus, as he’s usually called, asked my opinion about whether the buzzer phenomenon will be able to continue along with the development of social media world. My answer was brief: as long as there is need then everything that can meet that need will certainly continue. It’s a simple economic principle.

I’ve seen that almost every Twitter account that I follow that became buzzer does not have the ability to maintain their reputation as a brand. Let me give you an illustration. Say, what do you expect by following a Twitter account under the name Raditya Dika? I’m sure you’d want to get funny and witty tweets that are uniquely Radit (Raditya’s nickname). So what do you feel when suddenly the tweets from Raditya Dika’s account start to packed with ads, with certain hashtags? Yes, probably you wouldn’t find this as a problem but many are disappointed.

Continue reading Reputation and Assets On A Buzzer