Today’s post comes from Jenni Izzo, a Drexel University graduate turned Central Florida PR professional with a social media obsession. Follow her at @jenniizzo.

It appears that MTV's attempt at reviving itself with a Twitter Jockey (an updated version of a VJ) has fallen short. After a month of Twitter-focused challenges to find the most appropriate individual for the job (measured by MTV's own TweetLevel), the network announced the top five contestants in their “Follow Me: The Search for MTV’s First TJ” competition – and people are angry.

See, for the duration of the competition, MTV kept an up-to-the-minute contestant ranking by measuring influence, popularity, engagement and trust. In addition to these metrics, anyone could vote for their favorite via MTV and American Express' MTVTJ Facebook page. When voting closed, the top five were listed publicly – as they had been throughout the competition – but when the announcement was made on Friday, several of the original top five were noticeably absent.

A quick search of “@MTVTJ” shows that people aren't just voicing their complaints – they want answers. With more than ten Twitter accounts, MTV is notoriously chatty, but they've remained completely silent on the topic.

The way the situation is currently being handled is only making things worse – MTV and American Express are deleting the negative Facebook comments.

It's been almost a week now, and the competition's blog, Facebook and Twitter have not been used to confront the complaints. In a world where we are all still navigating the slippery slope that is social media, what will MTV and American Express' (lack of) reaction mean for their image? Social media is a two-sided conversation, and you can't expect to talk, talk, talk, then stay silent when people ask for answers.

What are your thoughts? Has MTV put the nail in its own coffin? Will this case join Southwest in the Twitter history books – or is it merely a one hit wonder?

TwiTip Twitter Tips.



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