Thoughtpick: A unique perspective of the Web and social media...
A unique perspective of the Web and social media...

August 22, 2009

Is TrueTwit up to the Task of Reducing Twitter Spam? I don’t think so!

Spam on Twitter is an obvious and growing problem. I mean, many of the tweets in my stream are about “how to make money on Twitter” or some loser trying to sell an eBook. Don’t even get me started on auto-DMs – especially when I tried getting notifications on my mobile! I don’t want to check your Facebook profile, I am not interested in voting for whatever you want me to vote up and I do not want to know about what new porno movies you have on your disgusting website!

Yes, Twitter spam is getting on my nerves and might be a deal breaker unless Twitter does something about it.

TrueTwit.com attempts to solve the problem of Twitter spam - I don't think so!

TrueTwit.com: Nice interface but not a solution to Twitter's spam problem!

What’s spam on Twitter?

Hmm, I think you already have a bunch of examples pop into your mind. It’s not only the annoying list I mentioned above, but also Twitter bots, numerous fake Twitter accounts as well as spammers trying to use trending topics to gain exposure. I am sure there is more, but these are the examples off the top of my head right now.

There are many tools attempting to solve this issue, but recently, I ran into and tested out TrueTwit.com, and I was not too impressed by the logic behind it. Here is why…

[read full article >>]

Filed under: App Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , — Amer Kawar @ 5:15 pm

July 27, 2009

How To: 5 Top Methods & Applications to Reduce Twitter Spam!

How much of Twitter’s trending topics are polluted by spam? How many Twitter verified accounts are there? Have you ever thought of reaching Twitter utopia: a spam-free Twitter where information and knowledge sharing are the main purposes for using Twitter? Is Twitter doing enough to protect us from spam? Would you like to find all the top 5 solutions to cutting down on Twitter spam in one place?

No Spam!

No Spam!

Thoughtpick is here to save the day!

While reading the post about Twitter closing down thousands of spam accounts, I found that it would be interesting and very beneficial if I researched the web to present you with the top 5 methods and applications which could help Twitter users cut down on incoming spam and better enjoy their overall Twitter experience.

  1. Manual Selection: This method might be fun at the beginning yet could become a bit overwhelming especially to those following thousands of tweeps. Basically, this method entails that you monitor the activity, profile, links and tweets of those you are following and manually unfollow and block those who seem to be spammers rather than true tweeps. Things you should be well aware of when manually following and unfollowing tweeps:
    • Be ware of suspicious-looking shortened URLS; these could be links to viruses, pornography, trojans or spam. For example, if you see the same URL with 10 different descriptions!
    • Be careful of trending topics; spammers use those with a combination of hashtags so they would show up more often on Twitter search,
    • Be ware of fake followers; followers who will not RT you or provide you with valuable information, instead, they use their Twitter account to send our promotions to sell their services.
    • Know who you follow before you follow them and unfollow and block anyone who seems to be a spammer immediately.
  2. Tweepi.com: A new application, still in beta, for Twitter users which allows you to cleanup spam users using numbers that are able to reveal bots through various ratios such as number of tweets vs. number of RTs and the number of links per tweets. So if you’re following a few thousand people on Twitter and you noticed that many of them do not engage in conversations, never retweet anybody, or simply just ramble about nonsense stuff all day long (no links to useful content whatsoever!), Tweepi is your answer!

    Tweepi.com's Cleanup to find and unfollow Twitter spammers

    Tweepi.com's Cleanup to find and unfollow Twitter spammers

  3. [read full article >>]