Top Ten Types of Twitter Spam

A few interesting interactions over the last couple of days have awakened me to the fact that many Twitter users still see it as a spam machine, and don't use it wisely.

My time on social networks is limited so I aim to connect with the people who add value to my experience, and unfollow the rest. I add as many followers as I can possibly handle, but unfollow those who provide no value, because I want my follower count to be a true representation of people I interact with.

Increasingly, I've noticed a disturbing trend. Some new Twitter "users" (I mean that word literally) see Twitter as a means to blast their ads and other annoying nonsense, interspersed with cloying quotes and retweets to disguise the fact that the "light's on, and no one's home."

Since I logged on Twitter three years ago, I've witnessed all kinds of spam activity. I've categorized it here and would love you get your reaction. Do these bug you as much as they bug me? Do you have any to add?

1. "Get more Twitter followers" spam: This is the worst kind, in my opinion. These are list brokers that will help you harvest and follow hundreds of Twitter users per day. This is why you should not "auto-follow" anyone on Twitter. Yes, you'll get a new follower, but it won't add any value to your conversations. I unfollow these people as soon as I catch on to what they're doing.
2. Spamming large amounts of people, hoping that just a few buy something. Last time I checked, that was the formula for "Buy an ad." But people don't use Twitter to get ads spammed at them. They come for the interactions. Twitter has an account that you can report suspected ad spam to. Or, just click on your "report spam" button. If you tweet ten ads to every "real" interaction, that ratio is backwards.
3. Empty shells: These people have a fake front business, but they're really just shameless self-promoters who use spam to eek out an accidental living. Most have no real skills to offer, but pride themselves on their ability to sit behind a computer and click some buttons. Put them in a real business situation, they fold faster than a poker bluff.
4. Porn spam: You know what I'm talking about. Obviously done by a bot, because why else would they follow me? Not at all interested.
5. Duplicate accounts: Last week,I was followed by several made up accounts in a row, all with the funniest names. They all had the same tweets displayed. My favorite was "Social Media Jew" and had a picture of a Hasidic Jew as the avatar. I have no idea how these people have so much time to make stuff up.
6. Repeat schedulers: I follow this guy because he makes me laugh (check out his profile, LOL) but he does schedule and repeat tweets over and over. Lazy and a bit disingenuous, in my opinion. I suspect that's why he doesn't have many followers. But it can be entertaining, I guess.
7. Trend followers: These are people who just tweet about breaking news all day with #trend hashtags thrown in. Do they do it because they really care about that natural disaster or shooting? Or are they doing it just to get followers?
8. Stat addicts: Usually on Twitter for a year or less, these people spend time just aimlessly pumping up their numbers, and actually belittle people for having fewer followers than them (which exposes their ignorance). This type of behavior completely misses the entire point of social media and has no place in the community.
9. Retweet dummies: These folks just go out on the Web, find random news articles and tweet 'em out all day. The only way this adds value is if you have an opinion on it. If not, I can find my own random articles. Thanks.
10. Quoters: This is a hallmark of spammers. In order to seem more like a real person and fool people into following them, these people will just tweet out random quotes from famous people, even if they are obviously not following that virtuous advice at all. I don't mind quotes from people every once in a while, but do it sparingly and it will be more meaningful.

Who are the most notorious Twitter spammers out there? Report 'em to Twitter first and then leave a comment here. For my next post, I'm going to list some Twitter users who add value and interaction to their tweets.

Comments

[desmoinesdem]

I like some of the re-tweeters. That's one of the main benefits of Twitter for me--I follow people who link to things I wouldn't have seen otherwise. It's like a headline feed compiled by dozens of people. If I'm not interested, I don't click through. I don't see the re-tweeters as spammers at all.

[Claire]

Regarding retweets: I agree that some know how to do it without spamming. But some mistake retweets for actual interaction, and that's a shame. Thanks for your comment!!

[Michael Libbie]

Second that emotion...nice post. Sadly...the offenders will not notice. Hey...Have I told you how you can make MILLIONS of $ by sitting in your house? Send me $14.95 and I'll send you my secret! ;-)

[Claire]

Michael, since one of the spammers actually called herself out and tweeted about my post, I am getting a little traffic from it! LOL Perhaps I should ask them if they would like a Ginsu knife set?

[Sincerely, Jenni]

Touche. I'll raise my hand and admit to being one of "those" types of Twitter users. I got suckered into one of those "get more followers here" things and wound up getting more followers, BUT then they also send out 1-2 tweets in my name every few days. Also, my blog automatically tweets a message if I have a new post up. Other than that, I don't even begin to use Twitter to its full potential.

Thanks for this post. I'm going to head over to Twitter and make some changes!

[Kathleen]

I totally agree with the quality over quantity Twitter count point! Great list and food for thought...

One benefit of the all the bots in the mix is that the great interactions from the REAL people in the bunch really stand apart. I notice a distinct difference between my personal account followers and followees (mostly other PR and Marketing pros) and a client's account that I manage. My personal account if full of great interactions: crowd-sourcing, helpful opinions, answers to questions, great links, RTs and conversations, with the occasional spammer. The other account is less substantiative and rife with both intentional and unintentional spammers, with the occasional exchange with a real person.

The point of Social Media definitely has a learning curve and time commitment, and it's been tough (so far) for me to find real experts in this art outside of the crowd that preaches and practices the benefits of conversation and social media for their living.

[Erroin Martin]

A great list of the Twitter spammers, I am just curious, what makes a great twitter user then? There are many guides out there that recommend users try to do two of what you consider spam: The RT'er and the Scheduled Tweeter. What actions do you consider would make a great Twitter user?

[Dave Manzer]

I completely agree with your observations. Many Twitter users remind me of the quote from A. Pope: "Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread." Not that Twitter is dangerous. It's just that there are a lot of fools rushing around trying to cash in on it as though it were some kind of digital California gold rush.

[Claire Celsi]

Dave: There's an actual person who inspired this post. This person is guilty of all except porn spam and is adamant that all the rest of us are just doing it wrong. I just get the biggest kick out of it. LOL

[RobinBrown78]

Social Media Jew - I LOLed.

As for RTers, I find them annoying but think it/s more a case of people not really understanding how best to use Twitter.

A full level below that are people simply pasting headlines from news sites - for God's sake why?

[RobinBrown78]

By the way, I couldn't post this until I logged in via Twitter - I got an error message saying 'cannot process this data' - but no explanation as to why not. Bug?

[Claire Celsi]

Robin, can't figure out why you're comment didn't post. I'll keep an eye on it, thanks for the heads up.

[yvette]

The preachy, pointless quotes are the most irritating, I agree. I have probably been inspired by 1% of the, if that.

[http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann]

It's an issue that needs tackling.
I can't really understand how it can happen in this age.

Surely there is a fairly simple way to stop it?!

Please follow me, I am definitley not a spammer and have over 21,300 followers :)

http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

Thanks x