Eric Stewart: Running Off At The Mouth

This post is a work in progress – it’s where I will outline the developing rules of a (non-?) game I’m calling Twitter Bingo.

I came up with the idea the other day after an exchange of tweets with@akosnitzky:

• akosnitzky Yikes. I responded to a tweet where I responded that I dont like to watch Poker on tv and sure enough I have a Poker follower.
• ericdives @akosnitzky How many Internet Marketing Gurus do you have? I think I’m down to two now. I think we just made a new game: Twitter Bingo

It should be obvious to the clever right now that there’s much room for offense.  So, if you see it, good for you.  If you don’t see it, and you suddenly become offended, sorry (well, maybe … maybe not!).

The desire to finally start formalizing the rules was pushed over the edge this morning because I hit what I consider a Twitter milestone (which I think is more important to the “non-famous” among us who have more that 50 people we’re following): I (right this second anyway) have more followers than people I follow.

Here’s what I’m shooting for:

1. If you have suggestions, please use Twitter and “reply” to @ericdives with the tag #tbingo.  Eventually I’ll arbitrarily decide to close the RFC and formalize the rules.  If I used your suggestion, I’ll do what I can to note that it’s yours (usually by putting your handle somewhere hyperlinked to your Twitter URL).  I reserve the right to modify your suggestion as I see fit.
2. The basic concept is that we assign the letters in “TWITTER BINGO” to certain concepts.  I’ll outline a few below.
3. Then given said concept, assign scores for each letter based on the number of your followers that qualify (usually looking for key words in a follower’s Bio), and possibly any information that’s in your Bio.  Scores not need be positive!  Negative scores (or divisors) will reflect either things that aren’t considered “good”, or be used to offset the possibility of running up the score. There will be at least one “Automatically Lose The Game” score.
4. TWITTER BINGO is played by two “mutual followers” – you and someone you follow who follows you.  Add up your scores and see who has more.  If you happen to follow him, I would suggest not playing against @aplusk.

Okay – so here we go:

• T: +2 points for every Teacher that follows you; divide that number by 2 if you are a Teacher. “Instructional Faculty” qualify.
• W:
• I:
• T: +2 points for every Technologist (“Computer” or “Internet” professional – meaning they get paid for it and it’s mentioned in their Bio; EXCLUDE any “Entrepreneur” or “Marketing” individual), but only +1 point if they also have the word “Geek” in their Bio.  If you have indicators in your Bio that you are a Technologist, divide this scoring by 2.
• T:
• E: +1 point for every “Entrepreneur” or “Marketing Guru” that follows you (phrase must be in Bio) unless you are one (phrase need not be in your Bio), in which case you -1 point for every one. Automatically Lose The Game if you misspelled ANY word in your Bio.  You Can Never Win And Never Play Again if what you misspelled was “Entrepreneur” or “Marketing Guru”, even if you correct the spelling later.
• R:
• B: -1 point for every Bot that follows you (you should have blocked them!).  Automatically Lose The Game if you are a Bot or Bot supporter – IE, a Marketing Guru that utilizes them (obvious!).  The following qualify as Bots:
  • Any account used to advertise porn movies (but not the accounts of porn stars)
  • Any account that routinely spams, particularly those that attempt to get attention by putting three or more of the Trending Topics in their Tweets
• I:
• N:
• G: +3 points for every follower with the word Geek in their Bio, but divide that number by 2 if have the word Geek in your Bio.
• O:

Notes:

non-game: Let’s face it – this is something that only someone with a lot of time would want to bother coding up to automate, and doing manually might take weeks … decades if you’re talking about someone like @aplusk and you allow all of his followers to qualify for the game.