New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales
Posted by Matt Singley on July 16, 2009 under Twitter | 
71 Comments to Read
Public Unfollows: The New Twitter Spam
I’ve seen some interesting things pop up in my “mentions” on Twitter recently...public declarations of people that I stopped following or blocked. Unlike Qwitter that sent you emails when somebody stopped following you (that is, when the service worked…which it stopped long ago as far as I know), and SocialToo emails you a daily list of those that no longer subscribe to your updates, this new public method seems to be picking up steam and bots like Follower Monitor are popping up everywhere.
Personally I don’t care. The people that I unfollow or block are by and large spammers. Usually the accounts that I part ways with are telling me how to “get 400 new followers on Twitter every day!” or “make money online with this sure-fire, turn key system!”. Very rarely do I unfollow somebody because I don’t like what they are saying or doing, I’m pretty open to conversations that differ from my own views.
I’m not the only one noticing this, people like Jeremy Isaac see this too and call it like it is: spam. It’s spam because it shows up in my replies stream because my name is mentioned, and it annoys me because it’s the result of somebody that I’ve blocked or unfollowed. It kind of feels like they are saying to me, “oh yeah, you’re going to block me? Well then I’m going to show up in one last message of yours and there is nothing that I can do about it!” I think there is something we can do about it, let me detail it for you.
What Can Be Done To Slow Down Twitter Spam
I’m pleased that the Twitter team makes great effort to suspend spammers (except when they accidentally mass suspend legitimate accounts), but we really are missing something more: a global Twitter blacklist. These services already exist for email spam, I think it’s time that somebody creates this either as a 3rd party service (I would be leading the charge to sign up) or as an integration into Twitter itself. Right now the Twitter system relies on the Twitter team, but if it were opened up to the community it could be 1,000x more effective. I imagine it being something that we can use to sort and control followers based upon keywords in tweets and bio, and then 1-click report them to the community as a spammer if necessary. We wouldn’t want bad blood between people to create blacklist somebody too easily, so there would have to be a threshold, like 25+ unique users or something like that. Then, if you subscribe to the service (and have allowed it to access your account via OAuth), those that follow you that are blacklisted would automatically be blocked, and if you have accidentally followed somebody that is on the blacklist (perhaps via autofollow) they would be removed from your friends. I’ve been searching for something like this, and so far I haven’t found it. If you are aware of anything close to this, please let me know.
So there you go…if you are familiar with the Twitter API and know how to code, I’ve just give you a million dollar idea. Go forth and prosper (and don’t forget to let me know when it’s ready)!
Additional comments powered by BackType
@askamys said,
I use a rss feed of followers that gives me their last 10 tweets. I follow on the basis of quality of content. My numbers aren’t huge, but I have no idea how people follow thousands anyway – and have a life.
There is only one person I would have liked to unfollow publicly, but I knew that doing so wouldn’t have been the high road.
Matt Singley said,
@askamys Thanks for the comment Amy, good stuff. You just gave me an idea for a post, “How Do I Follow Thousands Of People And Still Have A Life”? Seriously, I get asked that a lot. The answer is strategy, services and tools. I’ll start drafting it…
social media articles july 06 – july 19 2009, twitter, facebook, etc « Stefanm, my link collection said,
[...] New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales(and what can be done to slow down twitter spam); [...]
3 Steps To Stop Spammers On Twitter » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization said,
[...] on Twitter has been on my mind a lot lately. It could be the influx of unwanted replies that I talked about earlier, or the very positive actions by the Twitter team yesterday to purge known accounts, or the [...]
mattsingley said,
The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Shamsi333 said,
RT @mattsingleyThe new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
visualalliance said,
Great post by Matt Singley – Twitter Spam … http://twurl.nl/xqogy7
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
PamelaTheWriter said,
RT @mattsingley The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
PearceSmithwick said,
RT @mattsingley: New spam on Twitter: public unfollows…http://bit.ly/Gs9HL // Looks like spam, smells like spam, tastes like spam = SPAM
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
CrystalGibson said,
RT @mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://u.mavrev.com/p22x
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
janenb said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
MillsHound said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL YES!
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
_dger_ said,
a global twitter blacklist? Interesting thoughts from @mattsingley on what he calls “The new spam” http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
intel_chris said,
RT @mattsingley Twitter: public unfollows. http://bit.ly/Gs9HL (I’m thinking of implem shared blacklist site and iface/security issues)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mattsingley said,
@Jesse very cool. I wrote about it today and I think it’s the missing piece of a great puzzle http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mattsingley said,
The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
iTbay said,
RT @mattsingley The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
tylerbraun said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
jeffrago said,
RT @mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://u.mavrev.com/p22x
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
cryptomind said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
gambitfauri said,
RT @mattsingley The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
karyva said,
¡Qué loco! Un bot que le avisa en público a la gente que dejaste de seguir (via @mattsingley, en inglés): http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
karyva said,
The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL (via @mattsingley)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
kategannon said,
RT @karyva: ¡Qué loco! Un bot que le avisa en público a la gente que dejaste de seguir (via @mattsingley, en inglés): http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
davidlsharpe said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
rthprog said,
RT @mattsingley The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
richmombiz said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media … http://bit.ly/BHzi5
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
JamesB001 said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media …: I’ve seen some interesting things pop u.. http://bit.ly/aj1Mp
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Jesse said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://ff.im/-5koxL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
JamesatBabySpot said,
RT @Jesse: New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://ff.im/-5koxL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
hkremer said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://ff.im/-5koxL via @jesse
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
obris said,
RT @mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://u.mavrev.com/p22x
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mattuk said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales – http://bit.ly/PtdP8
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
stefan4m said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales(and what can be done to slow down twitter spam) http://ow.ly/huN0
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mattsingley said,
The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
kayleighford said,
RT @mattsingley The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
MrktingFiend said,
There’s New Spam On Twitter with Tattle Tales about unfollows and blocks. Have you seen it yet? http://bit.ly/H4MI1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
freya3377 said,
There’s New Spam On Twitter with Tattle Tales about unfollows and blocks. Have you seen it yet? http://bit.ly/H4MI1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
rahulsah said,
RT: @freya3377: There’s New Spam On Twitter with Tattle Tales about unfollows and blocks. Have you seen it yet? http://bit.ly/H4MI1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
tic616 said,
ja, ja chivatillos de “chincha chincha, @fulanito ya no te sigue” http://bit.ly/PtdP8
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Amblletradepal said,
Esto va a parecer un recreo de párvulos…
RT @tic616: chivatillos de “chincha chincha, @fulanito ya no te sigue” http://bit.ly/PtdP8
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
d33pak said,
RT @freya3377 There’s New Spam On Twitter with Tattle Tales about unfollows and blocks. Have you seen it yet? http://bit.ly/H4MI1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
michelledh said,
RT @mattsingley: The new spam on Twitter: public unfollows. Why this is lame and what we can (should) do about it http://bit.ly/Gs9HL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
freya3377 said,
Thx 4 RT’s
@d33pak @rahulsah thr’s New Spam On twttr w/ Tattle Tales abt unfollows & blocks. Have U seen it yet? http://bit.ly/H4MI1
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
tmeaster81 said,
RT @mattuk New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales – http://bit.ly/PtdP8
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
SocialNews said,
New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales http://su.pr/3xyKWC
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
stejules said,
RT @mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://u.mavrev.com/p22x
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
susiehume said,
RT @mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization http://u.mavrev.com/p22x
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
PAHolder said,
Interesting article on Twitter spam: http://bit.ly/f1bOT
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
laceyhaines said,
“New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales.” Twitter team currently looking into ways to eliminate the garbage http://bit.ly/1MMxKF
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
divyauttam said,
@mattsingley loved your post on New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales http://bit.ly/PtdP8
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
divyauttam said,
@mattsingley New Spam On Twitter: Tattle Tales http://bit.ly/PtdP8 Global Twitter Black List is a cool idea.
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
superblue said,
Random @invoke sighting on @mattsingley blog – http://ow.ly/hVF9 It’s like Where’s Waldo on the internet. Only different.
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Andre Siregar said,
Matt, I think a lot of those tweets come from accounts that are hijacked. In other words, the owners of the accounts send the “get more followers” tweets unknowingly.
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Andre Siregar said,
Matt, I think a lot of those tweets come from accounts that are hijacked. In other words, the owners of the accounts send the “get more followers” tweets unknowingly.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Fekona Moonlight said,
Hello I fell for it once now they use my account to spam now I cannot stop it what should I do I do not want to be banned for spamming I just failed to read the TOS O.O now they will not stop using my account
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Fekona Moonlight said,
Hello I fell for it once now they use my account to spam now I cannot stop it what should I do I do not want to be banned for spamming I just failed to read the TOS O.O now they will not stop using my account
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Fekona Moonlight said,
ok for all that was a victim of that spamming dellimma there is a way to opt-out if you accidentally signed up for it there is a link on the bottom of the page that says opt-out
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Fekona Moonlight said,
ok for all that was a victim of that spamming dellimma there is a way to opt-out if you accidentally signed up for it there is a link on the bottom of the page that says opt-out
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Allen MacCannell @ SenderOK said,
Wouldn’t you know…I just did this in Tweetdeck and found no violators out of 800 followers @senderok.
Not one person had said the word “followers”. I found one person used the word “money” a lot but a check of his timeline showed he wasn’t a spammer either.
This is because we don’t follow back before checking to see if a new follower is a spammer. We would be at about 1600 followers if we didn’t block spammers automatically (we do this to stop them from churning = unfollowing and following over and over again).
I guess this means that spammers really stand out from the pack. I would have thought that a few, perhaps even a dozen out of 800, would have tricked us into following them, but that apparently didn’t happen.
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Allen MacCannell @ SenderOK said,
Wouldn’t you know…I just did this in Tweetdeck and found no violators out of 800 followers @senderok.
Not one person had said the word “followers”. I found one person used the word “money” a lot but a check of his timeline showed he wasn’t a spammer either.
This is because we don’t follow back before checking to see if a new follower is a spammer. We would be at about 1600 followers if we didn’t block spammers automatically (we do this to stop them from churning = unfollowing and following over and over again).
I guess this means that spammers really stand out from the pack. I would have thought that a few, perhaps even a dozen out of 800, would have tricked us into following them, but that apparently didn’t happen.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Matt Singley said,
@Allen…That’s excellent! Good on you! I hope you can prevent future spammers from slipping thru as well.
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Matt Singley said,
@Allen…That’s excellent! Good on you! I hope you can prevent future spammers from slipping thru as well.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Lisa Duhamel said,
Yes, VERY tired of the “more followers / make $$” junk. Excellent advice – Thanks so much, Matt.
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Lisa Duhamel said,
Yes, VERY tired of the “more followers / make $$” junk. Excellent advice – Thanks so much, Matt.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Andre said,
You might want to ckeck an experiment I did a while back. Just check a twitter account called @RU4Real. Cheers.
This comment was originally posted on http://mattsingley.com/blog)“>Singley’s Blog Thoughts
Andre said,
You might want to ckeck an experiment I did a while back. Just check a twitter account called @RU4Real. Cheers.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
FullerJohn said,
Ideas for stopping Twitter spam. http://bit.ly/G9j0X
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
FullerJohn said,
Using Tweetdeck to stop spam. http://bit.ly/G9j0X
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Dan Grossman said,
For anyone that signed up for one of those sites and can’t get them to stop sending the spam through your Twitter account, just change your password. You didn’t give them API access, you gave them your Twitter password. Change your Twitter password and they can’t tweet from your account.
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
rvtwt said,
It looks to me like you
This comment was originally posted on Singley’s Blog Thoughts
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