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twitter 2nd largest SPAM platform on the net
Posted by timethief • 8/10/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: bots, gamers, money making schemers and dreamers, people buying followers, people selling followers, retweeters, scammers, spammers, twitter
- My experience of twitter is that it is full of spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, scammers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters.
Of course, there are great people too, who are worth being in contact with but my experience is that the NOISE to sound ration is increasing dramatically?
IMO twitter either has become or is becoming the second largest spamming platform on the net, next to Facebook.
Discussion questions for twittter members:
(1) Do you agree or disagree with the opinion I shared above?
(2) Why or why not?
(3) Do you employ any strategies do you employ get rid of the spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters, etc. ? If so, will you please share them?
User Comments
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1) I agree.
2/3)When you separate the wheat from the chaff I do find it useful in discovering environmental news and viewpoints that would otherwise fly under my radar.
There is no magic solution that I have come across other than to check each of my follower requests. Some are easily dismissed while other require me to check their page or website for more info.
I do admit that my enthusiasm for Twitter has been tempered by all the spam and scam mail. As for Facebook...I abandoned that one year ago for the same reasons that I am weaning myself off of Twitter.-
oops! wp moved down
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I'm checking my "new" twitter followers every day. In some cases you can easily can tell they are bots. Delete followers and within moments the bots delete you as a follower ie. the Scoble test. mashable.com/2009/08/06/twitter-purge/
Also note mashable.com/2009/08/09/twitter-api-ddos/-
There's useqwitter.com/ It catches twitter qwitters and I do stop following from my Proof Positivity account. -
@Shirley
Hi there. I may look into twtterquitter thanks for the link. -
Huge link list of twitter stuff deidrepannu.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/big-huge-list-of-twitter-apps/ I'm always finding something new from this list.
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Ok, I just signed up for that thanks!
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Since I can choose whose tweets I am viewing, I don't find the excess noise too bothersome. Unfollowing people is easy.
I do wish twitter had a way to weed obvious spammers out of my followers list. In general, though, I only check that every week or so and block the spammers accordingly. Otherwise I ignore it by using a simple desktop application for the Mac called twitterrific. Let's me see stuff relatively distraction free.-
Of course, twitter itself is a major distraction.
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@markstoneman
Are you using tweetdeck? -
twitterrific (a Mac thing)
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I removed my twitter box off my music blog. It's not doing good. -
I remove followers every single day. TT is right. It is easy to spot which ones are bots.-
Remove Ashton Kutcher from Twitter also please, I hate his self promoting non talented actor ass...
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I have two twitter accounts One for PP and the other is listed under myhabitathome. The first I follow everyone and admittedly I have it on autofollow. The other never gets publicized or anything just friends.
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I've been thinking about splitting up into more than one identity. That way my history network doesn't have to read about my politics, and so on. Haven't got to the point where I'm disciplined enough to go there yet. Desktop applications make it easy though. When I tried it earlier with the web, I kept getting logged out when I switched.
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I had to divide it up. I had so many followers on PP I could no longer keep track of my friends from BC.
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I was just thinking about closing my account with twitter. I'm not happy with the service at all. My DM box is filled with techno spam. People constantly telling me what I should buy to improve the quality of my online experience. I may sut it down tomorrow. I get very little hits from it anyway. If I do decide to keep twitter, I will most likely start from scratch and be more selective with who I become twitter friends with.-
I thought you couldn't get DMs unless you were following that person. Been my experience, anyway. The replies, on the other hand . . . Well, I usually ignore the stuff from total strangers, and if I don't like it, I block 'em.
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Yes this is true. I signed up for something that makes me an automatic follower ( Before I knew better) and now I can't get it to stop! I don't even remember what the name of the site was.
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Maybe you could just change your twitter password? That should block that site's access.
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Okay, I just deleted like 100 followers and changed my password. I hope this works. Thanks for the advice!.
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I haven't used it in ages. Mainly because - I dunno why. it just didn't suit me, really.
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I stand by original conclusions that people who complain about the "noise" of twitter either
1) do not use twitter,
2) just like to complain
You get out of twitter - just like you get out of anything else - what you put into it. If the noise bothers you - there's a gazillion applications to eliminate the noise.
Twitter is like your phone. How much of your home phone do you really use and how much spam to you get there? Consider your cell phone an application you can use to utilize your phone better. I can't tell you how liberated I was to eliminate my home phone and use my cell phone 100% for everything.
Think that way with other applications, such as email .. news .. twitter ..-
Also - i'd like to see your source on that statement ...
"twitter - 2nd largest SPAM platform on the net" -
there's a gazillion applications to eliminate the noise
Do you employ any strategies do you employ get rid of the spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters, etc. ? If so, will you please share them?
Which ones do you use please? -
I am the source of my opinion which I based on the experience I have had.
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I don't care if spammers follows me ... their noise doesn't bother me, and if they are violating twitter's TOS they will get deleted themselves.
For maintenance - i use for cleanup
www.buzzom.com/Default.aspx (with safe OAuth)
huitter.com/mutuality/ (without safe OAuth)
For noise - I use combination of
twitter.com
Firefox > twitter bar addon
iTweet.net
// As for the statement "2nd largest spam" .. that is misleading, inaccurate (i.m.o.) and probably a poor choice of blogcatalog forum title
Although, it's perfectly acceptable to mention stuff like
"i don't get twitter"
"i don't know who to follow"
"i don't know how to unfollow"
"i don't use twitter so don't know what is spam or not spam"
"i hate twitter and don't want to use it"
etc
.... there are gabillions of other twitter users who ARE happy with the end product and it's just like learning how to use any other program or software. At the end of your statement - hit [ENTER] -
@petlvr
I think my title should have had a question mark at the end. Alternatively, I could have created another one but after all the deleting I did I was in a negative mood.
The iTweet.net firefox addon sounds interesting. Thanks for telling me about it. There are so many apps and whatnot that I just don't have the time to try them. However, I always respect your opinions and suggestions so thanks.
I just checked out the www.buzzom.com/Default.aspx (with safe OAuth) and huitter.com/mutuality/ (without safe OAuth) thanks for those. -
@tt .. here's the link to the twitterbar FF addon
addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/4664
If you browse my @PetLvr twitter account .. all my posts that are marked "twitterbar" are made right on the top URL/location line and help share the sites that I like or stumble. Quite easy, without going to twitter, itweet, tweetdeck, twhirl, etc .. although, I have my settings to open up a new tab everytime I do that and I see the twitter Home and check out any direct or public messages to me. I also use Tweetlater service to email me everytime someone mentions one of my twitter names. -
Thanks for the positive contributions.
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I am sorry to say that timethief is 100% correct. Twitter has just about been rendered useless by the spammers and scammers.
They can't seem to monterize twitter. Even though it is red hot right now, I wouldn't be suprised to see it fade into the black hole of internet start ups that looked good on paper but...-
I really don't think there is any issues with the monetization of twitter - by twitter.com. I know that there's a lot of us non-spammers, and spammers who would love to USE TWITTER to help monetize our own crap and online business.
Twitter could possibly be the next Google .. remember how Google's crappy search because the dominant choice, adwords, adsense and other ventures? Wasn't there rumours to embed twitter in erikson and other cell phones direct at the factory?
I see twitter a preliminary vision of what skype almost promised to be - face to face communication on phones ... and, will watch for investment opportunities when the company goes public. -
@petlvr - Do you work for twitter? I would actually like your help, I will check out some of what you and timethief discussed above, but I am very new to twitter, and it does not seem very user friendly...well, atleast not if you want to take full advantage of it.
As far as 2nd to facebook....MYSPACE IS THE SPAM CAPITOL OF THE INTERNET!!! I could almost give factual numbers to back that up after my attempt to put Facebook vs Myspace through my blog (sorry no linkdrop) I would have said hotmail, until the government stepped in and put the smack down on the company responsible for up to 78% of ALL email spam!!
But, with all these social networking sites, they succeed by popularity (Myspace out...Facebook in), and all will eventually give way to the next generation...I only hope the next one gives me a cut&paste option to adding my profile...cause I am getting sick of that crap!!!! -
lol - no ... // I don't work for twitter ..
And, I don't go around promoting twitter either - but, just like anything else I feel needs an advocate - I try to stop the MIS-Information if i can.
// PS about the cut&paste option to adding profiles .. I turn it off, but I think "autofill" from the google toolbar does exactly that. -
Re: monetizing twitter and facebook
On Twitter, your status update is yours for the selling (for now). In fact, services like IZEA’s Sponsored Tweets: a pay per tweet service. Sponsored Tweets help you do just that, though not without creating a stir in the Twitterverse. Many users are vehemently opposed to seeing paid advertisements in their Twitter (Twitter) stream.
Facebook: The new pending policy on status updates is in section 4 of the agreement and reads, “You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).”
mashable.com/2009/08/11/facebook-statement-of-rights/
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Yes, in fact there is now a browser plugin widget called "AddATweet" which is kind of off from your blog but allow people comment from their browser in a selected url. Then without any moderation, it prone to spammers without any filtration.
Nowadays, people are diving into lots of data and it is not easy to sort out useful information from the whole junk useless things brought by spammers. -
Twitter is a joke anyways, there's nothing revolutionary about it.
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@petlvr - i was looking more for an option that would fill in the "about me" and transfer pictures...friends....etc. There probably is the next "Tom" reading this right now thinking....I CAN DO THAT.....I will call it - clique-ster....where the cool kids go!
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1.) I agree with you.
2.) Because I constantly have to block spammers that follow me.
3.)Nope, I don't know of any other tactics besides blocking them.-
Thanks for responding.
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I was completely against twitter for a long time, but decided to join (with some reservations) after I started my blog. I'm so frustrated, though, by all of the "call girl" types who keep following me... It seems like at least once a day, I have to block someone with a basically nude picture and a name like "SexxxyMeganXXX" or something... not that I'm offended by nudity or whatever, it's just annoying that there's so much spam I have to wade through to get to my real followers!
i wish there was an easier way to do it (besides locking your profile... that seems like a pain also!)-
I'm experiencing the same thing. It's annoying and could easily be brought to a halt if in order to become a twitter follower one had to be pre-approved. In fact, I'm strongly leaning towards seeing that become the case with every social network I belong to. I spend far too much time every day deleting spammers like sex and drug peddlars and bots.
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i'm pretty sure when i joined blogcatalog, i had to fill out one of those little nonsense word things just to prove that i'm human... twitter should come up with something like that. generally, i like being able to update people in realtime when i'm in the hospital (i can't use my blog since i don't get internet access), but the bots, sex, and viagra are disgruntling!
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Interesting post as I plan to go weed out ppl on twitter who spam, etc. later tonight or tomorrow as I can't find the tweets from the people who's tweets I want to read. Sooo, to answer your questions:
1 and 2 - I agree with your position based on my experience. And yes the noise is getting greater and now it seems twitter has gift apps which will only further add to spam and noise.
(3) Do you employ any strategies do you employ get rid of the spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters, etc. ? If so, will you please share them?
Well, now that I have so many spammers, schemers and scammers I am overwhelmed at the whittling process. I've gone to twitter karma to get rid of people who don't follow me bad that I don't have interest in and people who just never post anything but it's limited as it just shows the list.
I also have begun to actually check the profile of ppl before I follow them. If their posts are all spammy or of subject I am not interested in I don't follow them back. My hope is to avoid the junk from the start going forward. If it is a pic of some scantily clad woman with text "see my pictures" I don't even go to the profile, I just block.
As for my current spammy mess, I plan to just scroll through and delete any that are overly spammy and of no interest. So anyone posting "GET LOTS OF FOLLOWERS", "MAKE MONEY QUICK", "EASY MONEY", etc. is gonna be GONE!
So good luck! I have no idea how this will go but it is my plan and Ill update on the results in a week if you like.
Diane-
@shutterbugeye
Well, now that I have so many spammers, schemers and scammers I am overwhelmed at the whittling process. I've gone to twitter karma to get rid of people who don't follow me bad that I don't have interest in and people who just never post anything but it's limited as it just shows the list.
I didn't know there was such a thing as twitter karma. I'll check it out too and please feel free to give us an update.
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I joined Twitter but am finding my friends get lost amongst the spam. Sometimes I see 10-20 hits in a row from the same person, all different mind you but annoying as hell.-
Actually I just deleted my twitter account. I found I wasn't really using it anyway!
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@Cathy
I've come very close to deleting my account as well.
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I think twitter is the first before Facebook.-
I think the biggest three are myspaces, Facebook and twitter.
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Twitter brings in traffic to me, so I don't care!
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I've never seen much traffic from twitter.
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(1) Do you agree or disagree with the opinion I shared above?
-agree
(2) Why or why not?
-i see some users are just want to promote how to make money online or either click their link to learn it
(3) Do you employ any strategies do you employ get rid of the spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters, etc. ? If so, will you please share them?
i only follow ordinary users like friends, or with the same niche.-
Me too however I keep getting followers that are automatically added ie. bots.
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I like this trio anyway.
Blogger, Twitter and Friendfeed.
Else, eg: Facebook, Tumblr, etc is kind of no meaning at all. Socialize? Crap! BC is in a way much better.-
BC sends us "targeted readers" as opposed to indiscriminate "traffic" that produces a high bounce rate.
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It's all a matter of how you do it. You don't just spam and DM people 1200 times a day your opportunities. You post tweets from your articles on subjects of interests, but make sure your titles are keyword rich. Twitter picks up keywords very quickly.
If you're writing for eHow or some other get paid to write site, you don't spam people with opportunities, you simply let your followers know of your tweets. Hopefully, they and other people will read your stuff. So if you've got a blog, post your posts to Twitter, especially if you have helpful information.-
@ginajennings
Believe me when I say that I have read and continue to read all the advice about twitter usage. I have never misused twitter. I use it to tweet new posts after publication and to chat with friends. I do not wish to spend very much of my time tweeting. I'd rather spend it on researching and writing posts.
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Twitter's given me pretty decent traffic on many of my businesses, so I'm still using it so far. It's given notification to a lot of my other networks. Unlike my counterparts who never fail to DM me, I don't automatically DM them back. However, I made this choice when I chose to use Twitter. I use my Facebook for personal use primarily now. I know that Facebook is ultra sensitive to spamming for those reasons, plus many of my old friends have found me.
So, yes, I use Twitter for business but Facebook for personal use. As I said before, it's all about how you decide to use any social network and thinking long term what the end result would entail.-
Do you employ any strategies to get rid of the spammers, scammers, bots, people selling followers, people buying followers, money making schemers and dreamers, gamers, and chronic retweeters, etc. ? If so, will you please share them?
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I think Myspace is the largest spamming network!-
You may be right. I have no way of counting and I don't have a myspace account.
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I agree Twitter is pretty spammed filled that is why I deleted my first account because I got turned off by Twitter with all the attacks twitter has been receiving as well as all the spam DM's,
But when I started up my new account I noticed a new 3rd party service that looks for spammers on your followers list it's called Tweet Blocker tweetblocker.com/-
Thanks for posting that link Teck. I appreciate it.
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You're welcome TT,
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