Can Tweeters stalk?

Twitter users are running into a strange new problem: online stalkers who could well turn out to be a real-life threat

Can Tweeters stalk?

Twitter users are running into a strange new problem: online stalkers who could well turn out to be a real-life threat

Luis Price, a visiting student from Manchester, recounted an incident where his girlfriend was stalked on Twitter by her ex-boyfriend.

Price's girlfriend, who recently took to tweeting, noticed her ex following her twitter activity. "She was really creeped out by that and stopped using the site for some time," said Price.

Weighing in on the nature of the site, Price said, "If you're going to tell the world where you are and what you are doing at any given moment, some stalking is to be expected."

A consultant from Bangalore who tweets twice or thrice a week to communicate with his friends said with a smile, "I hope nobody's stalking me," and again, "I think it's fine if people dou00a0 that because that isu00a0 what the site is for but I'm not like that." Now anyone with a Twitter account can follow an activity posted by a user and you get a rather eerie message that a particular user is "following you".u00a0

To make matters worse, Sitening, an internet marketing company, has developed an application called TweetStalk, which allows Twitter users to follow other users without their knowledge. PR reps, marketers, advertising companies also read tweets. According to Switched.com, a tech website, if a user praises a product, advertisers can use that tweet to help them sell their item and likewise, advertisers have also been known to encourage negative tweets about competitors.

u00a0Finally, if you plan to tweet from your mobile phone, technology allows users to locate your GPS coordinates, thus making virtual stalking a real-life threat.

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