This weekend, it seems that many thousands of Twitter users had their accounts suspended for no reason. Twitter’s excuse is that there was a “spamcloud” that had to be dealt with…

So, my first question is: what the heck is a spamcloud?

My second question is: is the only way to deal with it really shutting down the accounts of thousands of innocent users?

Twitter may just be a victim of its own success. I’m sure it is difficult managing and scaling an application that is growing as rapidly as it is. But come on…shouldn’t Twitter have a plan in place for managing things like this? I think Twitter risks driving away many users if it continues to operate in this fashion.

This whole episode highlights an important point about Internet marketing:

You should focus your efforts on driving traffic to Web properties that you own. Otherwise, you are at someone else’s mercy. Do you own your Facebook page? No. Facebook does. Do you own your LinkedIn account? No, LinkedIn does. Do you own your Twitter page? Nope. Twitter does.

What do you own? You own your web site.

So if you’ve spent all your marketing time and energy promoting your Twitter page, and Twitter suspends your account (like it probably did this weekend), then you are stuck. But if you devote your energy toward getting people to your main web site, then you have more control and more freedom. You are not at anyone’s mercy (except maybe your hosting company).

I do think you should promote your Twitter page and your Facebook page and whatever other social media accounts you have, but first and foremost, promote your own web site.

Maybe next time you can avoid the meltdown on Twitter Street.

If you are having a hard time with this social networking stuff (or anything else related to online marketing), contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or www.WorkMedia.net.

For maximum control of your Twitter account, I advise the use of Tweet Later, which you can try for free at www.TryTweetLater.com.