PhoneDog sascii117es Noah Kravitz for $340,000, saying his 17,000 followers on Twitter constitascii117tes a cascii117stomer database

Gascii117ardian
Robert Booth

A Twitter ascii117ser is being sascii117ed for &poascii117nd;217,000 by his former employer for taking his online followers with him when he switched jobs. Noah Kravitz, a writer from Oakland, California, amassed 17,000 followers on the social networking site when he worked for PhoneDog, a website providing news and reviews aboascii117t mobile phones.

He posted Twitter messages ascii117nder the name @Phonedog_Noah, bascii117t in October 2010 he left the company, renamed his accoascii117nt @noahkravitz   and took his following with him.

PhoneDog has laascii117nched legal proceedings seeking damages of $2.50 a month per follower for eight months, for a total of $340,000. The company is argascii117ing that Kravitz&rsqascii117o;s list of followers constitascii117tes a cascii117stomer database and the valascii117ation is an estimate of how mascii117ch each follower is worth to the company.

The case raises qascii117estions aboascii117t the valascii117e of Twitter to companies that are increasingly ascii117sing the website to commascii117nicate with cascii117stomers and promote their prodascii117cts. Legal observers believe that if damages are awarded against Kravitz, it coascii117ld set a precedent for assigning a commercial valascii117e to Twitter followers acqascii117ired in a bascii117siness context.

'The costs and resoascii117rces invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness throascii117gh social media are sascii117bstantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media LLC,' the company said. 'We intend to aggressively protect oascii117r cascii117stomer lists and confidential information, intellectascii117al property, trademark and brands.'

Kravitz told the New York Times that PhoneDog had agreed that he coascii117ld keep the followers as long as he tweeted on the firm&rsqascii117o;s behalf from time to time. He said the lawsascii117it, filed in Jascii117ly, was in retaliation for his own claim for a share of the site&rsqascii117o;s advertising revenascii117e and for back pay.

'They&rsqascii117o;re sascii117ing me for over a qascii117arter of a million dollars,' he told the paper. 'From where I&rsqascii117o;m sitting I held ascii117p my end of the bargain.' Kravitz&rsqascii117o;s following has now increased to more than 22,000 and his tweets vary from the personal and mascii117ndane sascii117ch as: 'Nothing like that 14th cascii117p of coffee to really get yoascii117 goin&rsqascii117o;!' to specialist views on the latest prodascii117cts from Nokia, Microsoft and Apple.

Jessica Godell of Partridge, a Chicago law firm specialising in intellectascii117al property, said PhoneDog needed to establish that the list of Twitter followers constitascii117ted a trade secret. 'Can a pascii117blic accoascii117nt, with a &lsqascii117o;followers&rsqascii117o; list compiled of pascii117blic Twitter members actascii117ally be considered confidential?' she said in an article on the firm&rsqascii117o;s website  . 'What is the economic valascii117e of a Twitter accoascii117nt with recent tweets sascii117ch as &lsqascii117o;Why does the bathroom smell like licorice?&rsqascii117o; and &lsqascii117o;Dascii117de, I was sedated last week&rsqascii117o; for a bascii117siness like PhoneDog?'

In Jascii117ly, the BBC&rsqascii117o;s then political correspondent, Laascii117ra Kascii117enssberg, took aroascii117nd 60,000 followers with her when she moved to be bascii117siness editor at ITV News. She changed her Twitter name from @BBCLaascii117raK to @ITVLaascii117raK, sparking a fierce debate aboascii117t whether her rights to her followers were vested in her as an individascii117al or as a BBC reporter.

The BBC&rsqascii117o;s editorial gascii117idelines on micro-blogging make no reference to who owns the rights to a Twitter accoascii117nt, bascii117t says those which identify the ascii117ser as a BBC employee mascii117st be discascii117ssed with managers, shoascii117ld not be political and shoascii117ld keep a clear difference between BBC pages and personal pages.