Yesterday, that Tulsa World reported that ONEOK "” the company who has a monopoly on natural gas service in Oklahoma "” had filed a lawsuit against Twitter because some scoundrel had created a phony ONEOK Twitter account. Just a few hours later, ONEOK dropped the lawsuit:
ONEOK Inc. will drop its lawsuit against San Francisco-based Twitter after the social networking site finally transferred an account in the Tulsa natural gas company's name, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
An unknown user has been "tweeting" - sending instant messages that go to cell phones and on the Twitter site - company information in ONEOK's name. ONEOK has been asking Twitter to stop the user or transfer the account over the past month.
"The issue has been resolved and the account was transferred to ONEOK yesterday," spokeswoman Megan Washbourne said Wednesday. "We're in the process of dismissing the lawsuit."
ONEOK sued Twitter in Tulsa federal court Tuesday, alleging trademark infringement. The unnamed account user was putting out ONEOK information but not on the company's behalf.
Other than a Republican orgasm, I can't think of anything more boring and conservative than a utility company. That's why I'm surprised that ONEOK got all aggressive and decided to sue Twitter. In fact, suing Twitter was a pretty stupid decision.
For one, ONEOK should be flattered that anyone would want to disseminate their company news and information. Just check out some of the news stories featured on their website. They should buy the fake ONEOK person some flowers for tweeting boring news like this:
Secondly, by suing Twitter, it kind of lets everyone know that ONEOK is up-tight and easily annoyed. This means they'll probably be extremely bothered that someone has decided to set up a fake ONEOK Twitter account. The fake page already has more followers than the official ONEOK Twitter page. Here's a sample of some of the Tweets that were sent yesterday:
- We just filed a lawsuit against a little old lady because she complained about not being able to read her bill.
- Gas Saving Tip #63: Keep your thermostat on 82-degrees during the winter.
- Our meter men moonlight as Goblins and will step on your flowers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not going to lie to you. Whoever came up with the idea to create a totally fake and satirical ONEOK Twitter account is a genius. I also bet that person is charming, witty and incredibly handsome. It must nice to be that person.
