Twitter profile for sale on eBay

Among the long list of the weird, the wonderful and the wacky that have been put up for sale on the internet auction site eBay comes a new entry - a Twitter profile. American Ian Schafer, head of an American internet ad agency, has put a one-month sponsorship of his Twitter profile on eBay. Bidding has already passed the $500 (about £250) mark. Twitter is a micro-blogging site that lets users post updates or 'tweets' of up to 140 characters. Mr Schafer told Web User that he is auctioning his profile on eBay both to prove a point and to start a conversation. "Agencies should be just as actively trying to figure out how to monetize social media as the social media properties are," he said. Schafer, who averages around eight to 10 tweets a day, says that he has hundreds of "followers" - other Twitter users who are signed up to his page. Some famous Twitter users include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In his pitch to interested buyers he writes: "I've got hundreds followers, many of whom are among the interactive advertising industry elite, including numerous journalists." Whoever buys the one-month sponsorship will have full control over Schafer's Twitter account, which includes access to his contacts, and will be able to replace his photo with their their own image. Schafer's Twitter sale has unsurprisingly attracted comments, with one person asking why "anyone would be stupid enough to want to do something like this, when they can get their own profile set up and do the same thing?" Could it be the access his Twitter profile gives to the "interactive advertising elite, including numerous journalists"? www.twitter.com http://tinyurl.com/4xljj5