As with all forms of communication there are those who dilute the channel with their junk. Twitter is full of spammers and while Twitter is trying to minimize them, the best defense against spammers is you. I use an app called Tweetbot for my iPhone. With just a few taps I can report someone as a spammer and they’ll be blocked from my timeline immediately. In case you’re ever wondering, “Is this spam?” here are some recent messages from LanieSark2745 and a breakdown of why they’re a perfect example of a lousy, no-good spammer
#1 – No picture – If you see an egg or a picture of an attractive woman in a seductive pose.
#2 – Tweets to followers/following ratio – Good ol’ Lanie has no followers, is following no one but has tweeted 19 times.
Tweet Contents
#1 – Mention – They don’t talk about themselves, they immediately start spreading junk to users.
#2 – Text – Their message is always the same and there is no conversational tone to what they write.
#3 – Shortened link – The link will be “hidden” using a shortener service like bit.ly.
Report spammers my friends, it helps Twitter identify them and it will keep your timeline clean.
Unfollowing means freedom
I also suggest NOT following everyone who follows you unless you want to render the direct message function of Twitter useless. When you follow someone and they follow you that opens up a door to direct message you. I reserve that for specific people because it goes right to the front of the line in my communications work flow. If you want to unfollow a lot of people or learn more about why unfollowing can be a good thing then check out Michael Hyatt’s post called “Why I stopped following you on Twitter” or Chris Brogan’s post called “The Great Twitter Unfollow Experiment of 2011“.
Are you going to unfollow anyone and did you learn anything about Twitter spam?
