UPDATE: Diablo Ballet is back on Twitter, It only took two weeks to make that happen.  Had it not been for the wonderful outpouring of support from our Twitter friends and followers, we would not be back.  They kept tweeting our cause to Twitter Support and made it happen.  I can’t tell you how touched we are and we thank you for you support. It means a lot to us!

Now..let’s talk about Twitter and their part in this. Here is the email they sent that re-activated our account:

TRex, Jun 20 11:12 am (PDT):

Hello,

Twitter has automated systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk. Unfortunately, it looks like your account got caught up in one of these spam groups by mistake.

I’ve restored your account; sorry for the inconvenience.

Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.

Thanks,

TRex

So…just 13 days after suspending an account for no reason, they send an “oops…we made a mistake” reply.  And this could not have been sent or investigated sooner, say maybe by day 5??  Or day 10??  There was no communication at all on their part. We had no idea what we had done and they weren’t answering any of our 9 emails.  Twitter calls themselves social media. As I state below, “social” means you talk to people, not block them out.  Twitter has a lot of work to do on this end. They are accountable to no one. And this can happen to anyone.

Again, many thanks to our great followers for all your support. Twitter listened to all your tweets and you made a difference. They didn’t listen to us, but they listened to you. Sometimes the little guy can win.

Dan Meagher

Director of Marketing

Diablo Ballet

By Dan Meagher – Director of Marketing

Let’s say you have a party. You invite hundreds of friends over and spend weeks planning. Everyone comes over and has a great time.  The next day, you’re suddenly evicted. A total surprise. You have to leave and there’s no way for you to reach any of your friends who mean a lot to you.

That’s what happened to Diablo Ballet. On Friday, June 8th, I logged into our Twitter account and suddenly found out that, for no given reason, we were suspended.   After a week of emails asking for any communication from Twitter, we still haven’t heard anything and we’re still evicted. Just click here and see.

Why we were suspended we may never know.  When I clicked on the link from Twitter Support, I was given many options as to what may have kinda possibly sort of maybe have been the reason.  Really, Twitter?  You cancel our account and can’t even give a reason?  Then, they say to email them if you want to contest the suspension.  Three emails in a week period with absolutely no response.  Really? You do have a department called “Twitter Support,” right?

You can read our story here in this blog posting from Flo Content Marketing.

We want to let our hundreds of followers know that we didn’t leave the party on our terms. We miss you guys. We just don’t have a way to tell you. Many of our friends have re-tweeted messages and asked Twitter Support to get involved and correct this situation. I can’t tell you how much that means to us. We are deeply touched by your kindness.

The sad thing is our account was suspended just days before our big Twitter Chat Night with stars from the CW Network series “Breaking Pointe.”  Many of our followers were so excited to have the chance to talk to these Ballet West dancers.  I received an email a few days before the chat from Susan, a young follower in Arkansas, who said “I’m so excited for the chat night with the Breaking Pointe guys cause I love the show and love dance. I’ve never talked to a real dancer before and I want to be one when I grow up. Thank you.” I hope Susan might read this so she knows we didn’t plan on disappearing and ruin her opportunity. It broke our heart when the chat couldn’t happen.

What did Diablo Ballet do to get suspend?  Great question. Your guess is as good as ours. All we did was tweet ballet news stories, quotes by dancers and choreographers, dance videos, and anything dealing with dance.  Maybe the words “jete” or “Twyla Tharp” are illegal on Twitter.  But, since they don’t communicate, we’ll never know.

This can happen to anyone. We have been hearing non-stop about people who have had their account just disappear or get blocked out for months with no response from Twitter.  How can a business open their doors, invite you in to use their service, and then suddenly shut the door without giving you a reason?  I think the least they could do is talk to us. Is that really asking too much?  Apparently, it is.

So what are we going to do?  Hmm…another good question.  I really had hoped Twitter would have been in touch by now. But everyday that passes is just a sign that they don’t care about us.  Twitter is social media. “Social ” means you talk to people. Not block them out.  We’re the little guy going up against a billion dollar corporation. What can we do?

To all our wonderful followers and friends…we miss you. We want to talk to you. We miss sharing your stories, pictures from your dance recitals, tales from  dance class, and just being a part of your Twitter life. We don’t know when we will be back. Until then, keep dancing…keep going…and don’t ever stop. Much love.

Dan Meagher

Director of Marketing

Diablo Ballet

Dan@DiabloBallet.org

You can still talk us on Facebook here. Well, until they kick us off.