The Internet Life of a Social Media Guru Who Fired His Twitter Ghosts

This article is from the archive of our partner .

Self-proclaimed social media guru Mark Davidson got punked early this morning by his former Twitter ghostwriter. Or did he? After we wrote about the initial burst of supposed drunken tweets from a disgruntled former employee, a few more tweets came down the pipeline that made the whole thing look a bit staged: Another of his writers quit and then the so-called social media savvy Davidson put out a call for new Twitter associates. The latest is a joke about the whole saga: "Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, the previously scheduled blog post, 'How To Tweet Like a Boss' will not be posted today." Or maybe one of his prankster ghostwriters wrote that? Who knows, the whole thing is a mystery.

But it looks fishy. It doesn't really make sense that an Internet expert would act so irresponsibly, and as our commenter WhenWeWork pointed out, "Don't forget, this guy's business is Internet marketing. Perhaps using this as a lesson for potential clients and/or to generate buzz?" It's still unclear if the act is a ruse, but perhaps a look into Davidson's Internet persona will give a hint.

He has hands in lots of online platforms. Beyond his Twitter, he has a Google+ profile and 622 people have him in their circles, which for the nascent social network isn't too measly. He also has a defunct Tumblr, which he hasn't updated since June 30th. For awhile he used it as a Twitpic archival tool, which gives us a hint that he knows enough about Twitter to understand photo sharing. (That's where we found the photo above, in which he "unbagged" the computer gear he takes to Starbucks.) He also has a Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. He has the basic social media bases covered: He gets the basics, at the very least. 

On his LinkedIn page, he calls himself a "master of communicating in 140 character bursts." He also did some speaking at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2010 and discussed Twitter term usage. He even wrote an article for the local Orange County newspaper, the Orange County Register titled "5 ways to use Twitter in high gear." In other words, this man has staked a good deal on people thinking he understands how to use Twitter.

Yet, he's a busy dude. In that Orange Country Register article he mentions that he manages other Twitter accounts, besides his own. "A part of what I do professionally is to manage accounts on behalf of a brand and I’m often reminded of what it is like to start with a fresh social media account." Maybe his own handle got too burdensome so he hired help? And then the help viciously turned?

We reached out to Davidson to get his side of the story. Perhaps he got screwed over by his clan, or maybe with posts like this, he's getting exactly what he planned. 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.