Three Kinds of Twitter Spam
By James Dickey. Filed in Twitter |Tags: Spam, Twitter, Twitter Spam
Email spam is pretty easy to identify: Someone sends you an unexpected, undesired solicitation. Twitter spam is a little less obvious. First of all, except for a Direct Message or @ reply, Twitter communications (”Tweets”) are not personally delivered, but placed into the stream. If you’re following dozens, hundreds or thousands of fellow Tweeters, it’s easy for even the most egregious Twitter Spammers to exist relatively unnoticed.
Why Am I Asking?
In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen particularly obvious spammers on Twitter. Not because they’re getting more common, necessarily, but because I’m now being followed by an extra hundred or two hundred twitterers each day. One of the reasons that happens is that I tend to follow people back. But while some use software that automatically follows back any account that follows them, I actually look at each profile and make a decision before doing so. Since I’m now looking at a hundred or more profiles each day, I’ve started seeing more of what I call Twitter Spammers.
What Feels Like Spam?
In short, it’s someone who consistently puts themselves and their business first. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of business, and doing business, and understand completely that unless it’s replacing television viewing time, time spent on Twitter needs to have a concrete payback. But that’s not the same as failing to be real, human, interactive, and balanced. For me the Twitter Spammers have one thing in common – no interest in anyone else, and while “I know it when I see it”, there is room for disagreement or differing views.
On the other hand, there are some examples that I’m pretty sure everyone would agree are pretty clear. These are what I see as the 3 most extreme:
1. The Me, Me, Me, Me, Me Tweeter:
- Me, Me, Me, Me, Me.
This is an active account. In fact, if anything, they tweet much more often than anyone could reasonably expect. If their account is to be believed, they added over a dozen new blog posts in less than one hour on a Sunday morning.
There’s not one single @ reply in their communications, no interaction, no semblance even of a real human being behind the business. It’s as if in real life they’d introduce themselves and repeat their blog address 10 times in a row, never answering a single other question, or bothering to even ask your name!
2. The Me (When I Bother to Do Anything) Tweeter
- An account with little activity and no interaction.
This is much like the first one, but much less frequent, a little more dispersed, and frankly, puzzling.
The only thing less clear than why someone would do this is why anyone would follow this account. Three tweets in four months. All three point to his own sites.
This user followed me today. I’m under no illusion that they actually have any interest in what I have to say. I only wonder how many of the other 1,000 people they’ve followed lately are going to blindly follow them back. I hope not many.
3. The I Might Be Playing a Joke Tweeter
A spammer, or just a slow starter? Too early to tell.
This one might not actually be a Spammer, which is part of the reason why I eliminated any way to tell who they were.
Best case, they’re a slow starter, finding over 100 people to follow before making one statement of any kind. No weather report. No question. No opinion.
The other possibility, though, is they’re either playing some joke, or think there are more people willing to give them the benefit of the doubt when they’ve said nothing, than would follwo them back if they’d already gotten their 3 or 300 spam link Tweets in already.
What Have I Missed?
Those are the three types I can think of right now. Each of these actual examples came from profiles I’ve seen just tonight. I’m sure there are more.
What do you think? Am I being too harsh? What other spammer types have you seen? Do you think
gkrew: Three Kinds of Twitter Spam http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy from: @jamesdickey 02/17/09 05:52pm
stnmoon: Three Kinds of Twitter Spam http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy 01/07/09 03:02am
rampok: RT: @alifr: Three Kinds of Twitter Spam http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy via @jamesdickey 01/07/09 03:00am
alifr: Three Kinds of Twitter Spam http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy via @jamesdickey 01/07/09 02:59am
jamesdickey: Three Kinds of Twitter Spam: Email spam is pretty easy to identify: Someone sends you an unexpected, undesired s.. http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy 01/07/09 02:51am
david_tinney: @jamesdickey good thought provoking post on your blog, James. I left a comment, http://tinyurl.com/8pplgy 12/22/08 06:39am
Monday, December 22nd 2008 at 12:37 am |
Hi James. I agree 100% with your observations. I, too, look at every profile before making the decision to follow. I’ll give most the benefit of the doubt, ’cause I remember last spring when I was new to Twitter, I didn’t know squat and was afraid to ask.
There’s another type of Twitter spammer, I don’t have a name for them, but they are interactive with others to the degree they can squeeze their affiliate link into the conversation.
And then we have those that include their affiliate link in their automated Welcome Message to me. Bad form.
I’m probably different than many on Twitter. Yes, I’m a businessman but my main reason for participating in the Twitter Experience is to form relationships and to learn from others. Making money is not in my agenda. If I can form rich relationships and learn from others, that will enhance my ability to increase my earnings. Thats how I see it.
peace,
David Tinney
Monday, December 22nd 2008 at 12:45 am |
I definitely agree with the points you made. I dont automatically follow back either. I check the profile and particularly the tweets which tell the story.
I do like to follow back everyone who follows me, but certainly not obvious spammers. I’ve even blocked a few. If they dont get an audience, maybe they will quit. Wishful thinking probably! In any case, it definitely doesnt work. Who wants to buy something from someone who is only interested in themselves, and not with interacting with anyone.
Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 at 1:27 pm |
The business thing is a little odd. I’ve come across some that don’t really interact but I don’t consider them spam so much as all the “make more money” tweets. That may have to do with the follower ratio, though. When a little company selling handmade gift cards has a twitter account updating every time they add a card and they follow 398 people and are followed by 395, it doesn’t seem spammy. Maybe not entirely understanding of exactly what can be done with twitter, but it seems to me more of a way to let their interested customers know about their product.
Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 at 2:52 pm |
Hey James,
Excellent points! I too am the same way. I always look at someone’s profile, tweets and many times their website to see what they are about before I follow them.
One that you didn’t mention is the anything “Lim” spammer who keeps using the exact same picture for each new named account that they open. I have noticed recently that they are starting to use derivites other than in the “Lim” category, but still the same picture.
My wife @Truthoughts and I were discussing this the other night and she didn’t understand why they were doing that. And, I said, well first off, more than likely it’s a bot doing it anyway, but they probably get hits from some unsuspecting individuals who check out their profile and click on their link. She said, “Who, the only ones that follow them back are autofollowers”. Ha, that’s true! Which is another reason I don’t auto follow.
Thanks for the post. May you and your family have a wonderfully blessed Christmas!
Bradley
@OutsideMyBrain
Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 at 7:56 pm |
I follow everyone back and then decide whether they offend or tire me out.
The fourth type of spammer is the one that spams inspirational quotes only. I like a good quote as well as the next Personal and Business Results Coach (wink!), and I think they think they are adding value. I’m not seeing the relationship building or interactive nature of getting one of these an hour, though.
Sunday, January 4th 2009 at 11:54 am |
Not really spam, but I don’t understand protected updates. I seem to have more and more followers that protect their updates, and it just seems like a rather anti-social thing to do on a social network.
Sunday, January 4th 2009 at 12:27 pm |
You nailed me with your number 1 description but I disagree. I am not convinced the 140 character limit is going to allow this form of communication to provide robust discussion. I’m looking for folks who are willing to engage in meaningful discussion so I keep sending them to my blog in the hopes we can establish a relationship there. I really am not interested in what you cooked for dinner or if you are going to the store now. So far I find Twiiter interesting but not convinced of its usefulness.
Sunday, January 4th 2009 at 12:28 pm |
From the viewpoint of cultural anthropology, something like TWITTER had to arise on the landscape of modern social ecology.
The “privatization of public space,” the death of Mom and Pop stores, the nuclear insulation of families in homes and cars, the disappearance of the lunch counter, coffee shop and “Tabac” – necessitated the birth of social media. We ARE herd animals.
I am a shy, single woman so I am often alone. Science shows that people are happiest when surrounded by friends and family, but for many people like me, life can feel like being imprisoned in an alienated, lonely, urban pod.
Through Twitter I have made new friends who actually seem to “care” about me. I call these “Tweople” my “Twitter Circle.”
People who respond to my “follow” with a direct message to “buy their ebook and follow their blog” I
are insensitive to the ecology of Twitter. My heart is open when I am on Twitter. Slick salesmen come off like an Avon Lady stumbling into a family party.
One of my New Years Resolutions is to allow ONLY healthy people and healthy relationships into my life.
That goes for triple for Twitter, because the 140 character mini blog is like a direct brain bulletin from another human straight into my brain.
Have fun, reach out, but don’t let anyone abuse you with aggressive advertising. Don’t we get enough of that on TV, on the street, on the radio?
I agree that after exchanging personal tweets for 6 months or so it is time to meet for coffee. Real bonding can only exist in “meat space” because we need gesture, pheramones, vibrational auras, and most importantly sound cues to REALLY READ, BOND and BEFRIEND another person.
Sunday, January 4th 2009 at 12:34 pm |
Good morning James.
I suspect that the majority of the third type are caused by the “Find People” link at the top of the Twitter page. People get onto Twitter and invite the people they correspond with on hotmail or gmail or yahoo or whatever. Those people who are not on twitter see the invite and some percentage will join and become active. Another group does not join and a much larger percentage join and then never use the account again.
Those profiles with no picture and no updates just sit out there gathering dust until the end of time unless you go back and encourage them to participate, and perhaps even help them get started. (@RoseannHiggins for example)
Six months after I invited the first batch of people from my mailing lists, only about 5% of them had become active twitter users and about 20% were in the condition of #3 – profiles with no picture and no tweets tweets.
Thank you for this post and the 10 Commandments.
Bill Austin
@wbaustin
Sunday, January 4th 2009 at 1:03 pm |
A few other types:
Bandwidth Bandit: These are typically larger commerical sites that have lots of contributers and editors. For instance RedState.com and Instapundit. Both of these put out about 20 twitters and hour. The result if you sign up for them is that they completley fill your feed. 10 of there’s to the other 80 people I’m following. The content isn’t spam, in fact it’s good. But the amount of it is a bit overwhelming and takes them into the ‘mal’ division.
Ads in Twitter: The same kind of feed (ie: commerical oriented) have started sneaking in ads every 100 tweets or so. So the feed is oriented around politics and then all of sudden is “Check out the New Toyota Prius SUV” Ok, it could be merely fan enthusiasm and Twitter encouragement of eclectic content, but it sure smells like an ad.
Tuesday, January 6th 2009 at 9:05 pm |
There are the stealth spammers. It looks like they’re replying to people. They also seem to recommend a lot of sites to people in reply to their questions. Not a problem, until you start following the links…
Then you realise it’s their own site they keep recommending, whether it’s relevant to the original question or not. They never admit it’s their own site.
Tuesday, January 6th 2009 at 9:19 pm |
Since I was a late comer to Twitter and have been around in cyberspace for a little while, I check out the profile of everyone who “follows” me before I respond. That has saved a lot of grief. I have also “unfollowed” a few, whose postings add nothing to my day.
Also, I was lucky enough to be in sitepoint.com looking at which and what types of domains were for sale, when I saw that that a Twitter app with a big list had been sold for $1200 (they said they couldn’t handle the traffic) – cheap way to acquire a list? Even though I hadn’t used that app, I immediately changed my Twitter password – because I, too, was uncomfortable with the way that Twitter apps – that clearly say they are NOT associated with Twitter would ask for my Twitter name and log in. Since I had only signed up for a couple, it wasn’t a big job. However, because I am new and didn’t have a big following, recommending password changes didn’t have much impact on my say-so.
Finding new people to follow? Have a look at the people your favourites have on their lists. You can always follow them, if you like them. If they like you, they may follow back.
I always laugh when I click on a new followers profile to see the wise old owl telling me to ‘mosey along now – there’s nothing here for you’.
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 at 12:10 am |
I classified myself as a Tweet Spammer yesterday, when I installed a plugin on Firefox and realised what awful tweets my automated tweet feeds were sending. (I apologise James.) I am a combination of Me Me Me and Slow Starter -spammer. My intention was never to spam, but I wasn’t quite aware of the amount of c*** adding something like FriendsFeed to automated TweetFeed created. Also I wasn’t as active on Tweeter as I would be in a lot of other social networking sites, that have real discussion boards, so I never paid too much attention to what was going on in there.
Tweeter is still a bit lost with me, but with all the good things that are said about it I have half forced myself to have a try with it. So far I’ve only found out that I’m an intolerable spammer and that’s about it.
As for following back, I do an automated follow back, for the reason that it at least gives me the chance to see what the (so far very few) people that follow me are doing. If I don’t like their tweets, I can always remove them later. And that was under the intention to actually follow the page. Now I’m a bit more organised though with the Firefox plugin.
Wednesday, January 7th 2009 at 8:57 am |
Hi Phoebe. Loved a couple of your comments (below). They are things I could immediately relate to even if I never thought to say them that way. Thx. Now I’m going to check you out on Twitter
1) … My heart is open when I am on Twitter. Slick salesmen come off like an Avon Lady stumbling into a family party.
2) One of my New Years Resolutions is to allow ONLY healthy people and healthy relationships into my life. That goes for triple for Twitter, because the 140 character mini blog is like a direct brain bulletin from another human straight into my brain.
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:07 pm |
about 1/2 my follows lately are spam either from online hookers or get rich bs sites –
Spammer profile might include any or all of:
1. no profile pic
2. none or few posts
3. shortened url in profile link
4. many follows, few following
suggested steps:
1. DM @spam per Twitter Help
2. Block user so they dont show up in ur updates
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:13 pm |
Those are great signs to look for that mean someone is likely a Twitter spammer, or at the very least doing Twitter poorly.
Definitely let http://twitter.com/spam know if you think someone is a spammer. Blocking them is another good way to let Twitter know you think someone is a spammer. For more on that, see my blocking post at When to Use Twitter’s Block Function post.
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:08 pm |
James, I understand your concerns, but Twitter is a wild and woolly world. Some people use it for personal interaction, while others use it as a business experiment to see if it’s worth their time and effort—and to figure out how to use it appropriately for business. While I might make a friend on Twitter, that’s not my primary reason for being here. That reason is business. If that’s a no-no on Twitter, then perhaps it’s not such a good business tool after all!
My two cents (or less)….
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:21 pm |
I am confident the majority of Twitter users are here for business reasons. I am, for one, but the approach is critical.
No one would expect to be successful walking into a trade show, putting their hands over their ears and shouting out “Buy my xyz for only $24.95″ over and over. Why would they think doing that in print on Twitter would be any better?
To sell you introduce yourself, pre-qualify the audience, build a relationship, then make it compelling and easy for those interested to buy from you. Spamming does none of that. It’s not just bad form, it’s bad business.
And, incidentally, your Twitter stream makes it painfully clear that you understand this and would not at all be considered a spammer – my two cents, or less.
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:10 pm |
I look at the profiles and click on the links to their websites too. If they don’t interact with others, I don’t follow them. Some self promotion is expected if they are trying to get subscribers to their blogs (I’m guilty of that myself) but if that’s all they do then I don’t believe their tweets are worth my time.
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:16 pm |
Great approach!
If they’re just overbearing or a bore then ignoring/not following is exactly the right tact. Interacting well takes effort, but as with most things in life, we get so much more when we do. Taking the time to review profiles and click through to sites makes all the difference in the quality pool you build on Twitter.
Tuesday, February 17th 2009 at 12:16 pm |
You forgot the auto DM people. Though that may be a post all on its own.