'Tweep power' evicts Twitter name squatter

A name squatter on Twitter who took the handle of a US children's television show was evicted from the micro-blogging service following a show of "tweep power", spearheaded by an actor who founded a company advocating child literacy.

 

Twitter removed the @ReadingRainbow handle from the unidentified account holder and awarded it to actor-director LeVar Burton, the founder of RRKidz and host of the PBS show "Reading Rainbow."

 

While the show is no longer on air, Burton - who appeared as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge on the hit TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" - is working to relaunch "Reading Rainbow" as an iPad app, tech site TechCrunch said.

 

But when he was about to register the Twitter account that would provide updates on the app, he learned someone had already claimed the @readingrainbow handle.

 

Worse, the account owner did not reply to Burton's attempts to reach out.

 

"Hey @readingrainbow I'd love to have a conversation with you! Please DM at your earliest convenience. Thanks!" he said in one of his messages to the name squatter.

 

When he still could not get an answer, Burton on Feb. 1 issued a call for help of sorts to his tweeps (Twitter followers) - about 1.742 million of them.

 

"Dear @twitter I'm trying to contact the individual who's sitting on @ReadingRainbow but he hasn't Tweeted in #3YEARS Can you help? Thanks!" Burton posted on his Twitter account.

 

TechCrunch reported that more than 700 users retweeted Burton’s call for help —"which apparently prompted the folks at Twitter to leap into action."

 

"Thank you everyone for your help!!! #@ReadingRainbow #bydhttmwfi," Burton tweeted after getting control of the @readingrainbow handle.

 

As of Thursday afternoon Manila time, the @readingrainbow handle has just over 3,000 followers. — TJD, GMA News