I have really taken to Twitter. I got on the Twitter train a little late, but I  “get it” and I see the potential in Twitter.

But besides potential, I’ve met a ton of interesting people and contacts, I’ve learned about websites I never knew about, I’ve talked with business guru’s like Guy Kawasaki, I’ve expressed concerns or praise to businesses like Whole Foods or Zappos who are using Twitter to engage with their  customers.

Of course with everything good comes the people who try and “cheat” the system.

Gary Mccaffrey is running what looks like a pyramid scheme to gain followers from on Twitter. You can check it out at TweeterGetter. The best way to understand how it works is if you think back to the early days of spam emails where you would be asked to send a dollar to 5 people in the mail and in return your name would be put on the list and you’d get back hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Gary is promising that by adding your name to the list you’ll have 15,625 New Followers in 30 days.

Seems harmless right?

Well here’s the problem.

You start to realize the power of Twitter when you use it properly. You actually build relationships, meet new people, gain the trust of others and most importantly gain new followers or “fans.” I’ve been tweeting since about the beginning of January and I haven’t even passed the 1000 follower mark. But I do believe I’ve worked quite hard to gain those followers. This means interacting with others, sharing useful information, helping and responding when needed, re-tweeting others posts…..AKA CONTRIBUTING AND INTERACTING!

The possibilities for a service like Twitter are endless. Don’t believe me? Pick up a copy of “Tribes” by Seth Godin and you’ll quickly realize the absolute potential in such a service. Seth doesn’t actually talk about Twitter but through Tribes, you can come to “get” Twitter.

I was saddened to see so many yesterday jump on the bandwagon and I regretfully think many will wish they hadn’t done so. When Gary first started he only had about 800 followers and overnight he shot up to about 5000 so it seems to be working for him. Most pyramids do only benefit the person at the top.

But do any of those people really care about Gary? Not really. Do they care what he’s got to say? No.

Twitter has become one of my favorite sites on the net and it’s too bad seeing it abused.

To me, this is just another poor attempt by another Internet Marketer to make a few quick bucks or to show of the size of his….

Sigh…. Say no to TweeterGetter and if you DID take part, ask to be removed. Do things on the level and you’ll gain followers that actually care what you have to say.