Sometimes No Account is Better Than an Idle Account

Want to know the only thing worse about an empty Google search? An idle Google search. Websites, blogs, and social media accounts that haven’t been updated in months just drive me nuts. 

Idle accounts are not good for a person, and are especially terrible for a business. When someone arrives at your site and sees that it hasn’t been updated in 6 months, it creates a sense of unprofessionalism about your business. Idle social media accounts can also represent a lack of modernity in today’s business world. Some people might interpret an out of date site as a business no longer in operation. Face it, people judge your business based on its social media activity.

When people want to find out more information on a business or service, one of the first things they’ll do is Google it. And if they dig deep enough, they’ll stumble across your empty outdated pages. Networking accounts with consistent social media presence represent reliability in a business. They prove that someone is out there working to be a business and they show a potential client that someone has taken the time to give attention the online appearance of a business.

A common misconception about idle accounts is that eventually, they go away. False. Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Friendster, Digg etc etc etc…accounts never go away! If not deactivated, they will exist forever. Foooorreeeevvverrr. Sandlot style.

Keeping up to date with one’s various social media accounts is also how a business improves its Search Engine Optimization.

So, for the sake of your business’s reputation, I urge you to take control of those idle accounts and make something of them! 

And once those accounts are revived it’s important that they are updated frequently…but not too frequently. Nobody likes an account that tweets 25 times in 3 minutes and ends up spamming the newsfeed. Tweets, like other social media posts should be updated with thought and purpose. Newsfeed hogs are no fun! 

Tweet much?

- Kate Wallace

On Twitter @k8wallace and Linkedin