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The Athletic keeps growing .......

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Fran Curci, Feb 3, 2018.

  1. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    Exactly. It wouldn't matter then if he was gifted 1 follower and built it up to 27,000.
     
  2. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    I never said that. I was just answering the question about how many followers he had when he took over the account.
     
  3. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    The lawsuit is silly and petty. I don't care where the account started -- to try to retrieve it is dumb.

    If I'm this guy, I (a) create a new account and spend the next week or so tweeting about the situation and pushing my followers to move to the new account, and then (b) spend the next few weeks aggressively tweeting out tentacle porn and retweeting MAGA trolls on the old account. Want the account back? Here you go.
     
  4. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Punitive damages, anyone?
     
    BurnsWhenIPee likes this.
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    If there was a written agreement when he started on the job, then I’ll tip my cap to the company. But that sounds like a lot more foresight than most media organizations would have. (If a bunch of people say otherwise, I’ll stand corrected.) Maybe their argument is “he was required to turn in his company laptop ... and that included the Twitterz!”
     
  6. Deskgrunt50

    Deskgrunt50 Well-Known Member

    I doubt there was a written agreement. This just seems petty on the part of the paper. If he has to give back the account, he can certainly appeal to his followers to join him on a new account. And ask his followers to unfollow the other account. Give the paper back a gutted twitter handle.
     
  7. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    Didn't read this when I posted on the other thread, but posted pretty much the same thing. If most of those people really want to read tweets,
    why wouldn't he just create a new twitter handle and have them follow him and not follow his replacement at the paper.
     
    Deskgrunt50 likes this.
  8. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    This whole ordeal perfectly illustrates how overblown and absurd the value of Twitter followers are to certain publications. We already knew that you could get hired solely for being engaging on Twitter but taking an account with you/suing a former employee over one is ridiculous.
     
    Fredrick likes this.
  9. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    Probably because most college football fans don't care who the person is, they just want someone close to the program to feed them info. I'd be shocked if fans of a particular team were so loyal to one beat writer that they'd not follow another simply because he/she asked them to do so.
     
  10. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    So a couple things from the Washington Post story about this.

    As far as a written agreement, the employee handbook says employees who have been issued “Company-owned information assets, keys or other access items must return them to the Company upon termination of employment.” Like most of us have done at one point or another, Bitter signed a statement acknowledging he received the handbook and would abide by its rules. The lawsuit says the handbook makes clear that all social media “accounts and communications on those accounts” are the property of BH Media.

    Also, "appealing to his followers to join him on his new account" is part of the issue. He has been and apparently is continuing to promote his stuff for the Athletic -- a direct competitor -- on the account BH claims it owns. The lawsuit is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Bitter from doing that, citing (according to the Roanoke Times story) state and federal laws prohibiting, among other things, "theft of trade secrets and unfair competition."
     
  11. I don't think it's much different than a popular columnist, reporter, or even chef. You build a brand for the employer, that doesn't mean you get to take the paper or the kitchen with you when you leave.
    Bitter did a solid job with Va. Tech coverage, but I don't see how he has a leg to stand on. Guess, that's why it's going to court.
     
  12. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    In 2012, Bitter's name was on the account and it had around 7,300 followers.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2018
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