For those of you who didn’t hear, Leo Laporte has left Twitter for one of the other micro-blogging services Jaiku. According to the latest Net@Night, Leo apparently just received his trademark for TWiT. Part of having a trademark is defending it. By Leo using and promoting Twitter on his shows, he’s causing brand confusion which hurts his ability to hold the trademark.
The real story is about how when Leo Laporte switched to Jaiku, he brought his legend of fans and followers with him. According to Scoble, the service went down last night because it couldn’t handle the TWiT Army. This goes to show that you’re influenced by your relationships in your social network.
We place our trust in and form relationships with celebrities, like Leo Laporte.
Could Leo bring down Twitter? When someone like Leo Laporte does something, a lot of people will follow.
UPDATE: I now have a Jaiku account. Do you?
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 