(Updated October 1st, 2009)
Note: To see all my tips on how writers can get the most out of Twitter, please visit my Writer’s Guide To Twitter page.
When I signed up for a Twitter account, I dismissed it as just another social networking fad after trying it out a short time. In mid-June, however, I decided to take it more seriously when I saw so many children’s book authors, editors, agents and publishers start using Twitter.
Once I started posting regularly, I started attracting more followers (stats from TwitterCounter):
See that flat bit at the beginning of August? That’s when I was attending the SCBWI conference and wasn’t doing much posting or replying.
Why and how I cull my follow lists
Once a week, I go through my following and follower lists and cull.
I cull the list of people I follow mainly by looking at people who don’t follow me back and decide whether I want to keep following them. In general, I follow people for four reasons: (1) Because their tweets are consistently interesting or entertaining, (2) Because they are people whose profiles intrigue me and I want to get to know them better, (3) Because I’ve met them in person and want to keep in contact, or (4) Because they’ve shown interest in me and my tweets.
If someone doesn’t follow me back when I follow them, then I figure they’re not interested in interacting with me unless I mention them specifically in my tweets…and maybe not even then. There’s nothing wrong with this, and I don’t take it personally.
However, it does affect my take on the Twitter relationship, and I’ll usually unfollow them after a while UNLESS they fall into one of the first two categories I’ve mentioned above.
I’ll sometimes unfollow someone who IS following me if I lose interest in their tweets, if they haven’t posted in a while, or if they’re spammy.
Why delete someone just because they haven’t posted in a while? Because I like to know that my follower list is active.
Why delete spammers if I don’t have to read their posts (because I’m not following them)? Because I want a quality follow list. I figure that everything associated with my Twitter account reflects on me.
Sometimes someone will proudly tweet about having xxx followers but when you check their list, you see that spammers comprise much of their following — and then you can’t help but wonder what else they’re saying that should be questioned.
Having a spammy follower list takes some of the shine off an otherwise high-rep Twitterfeed, plus may turn off potential followers.
From @expatina: ” I block spammers + anyone whs followers I don’t want–God Squad, wingnuts, MLMs, New Agers et al. Bad juju to keep ‘em!”
It’s true that Twitter deletes some of the spammers, and some spammers unfollow you after a day or two when you don’t follow them back, but I do find that spammers still lurk.
Better to block them, I think. As @expatina, says, spammers generate bad juju!
How do you define “spam” in Twitter? What makes you unfollow someone?
This may differ from person to person. For me, there are obvious spammers. Anyone mentioning sexy pics, promises to get me thousands of followers, cheap drugs, cosmetics or my soul needing to be saved automatically gets the boot. Anyone who appears to be following me not because they’re interested in my posts, but just because they hope I follow them back and boost their follower count.
I also tend to unfollow anyone who DMs me with game invites or sales pitches, whose twitterfeeds are spammy, who never interact with anyone, or who follow only a small number of people but have thousands of followers. There are exceptions, of course, but I have to really REALLY want to follow them.
The tricky cases are followers who may or may not be spammers — they look like real people, but their own feeds tend to be slightly spammy. I figure it’s possible that they may actually be interested in my feed, so I ignore those.
I recently asked how others handled Twitterspam. Some just ignore the spam. Some diligently block spammers every day, and some report spammers to Twitter (@spam). Some do their blocking every once in a while, whenever they notice too many spammers in their follow list.
@alaninantwerp replied: “Handling spammers? A 12-bore shotgun usually does the trick (Now I’ll get spammed by gun lobby pro and anti!!)”
I don’t go that far 
but I do try to cull them out of my follower list regularly by blocking them.
Tips on how to avoid getting Twitterspam and being a spammer
There doesn’t seem to be a surefire way of avoiding Twitterspam, but here are some tips:
1, Change your login and password regularly.
2. Be wary of giving your login / password to third-party sites. Keep a record of sites you DO share info with, and make sure you don’t accidentally choose settings which enable them to add followers for you.
3. Don’t help the spammers! Encouraged by the successful of hashtag viral spam like #moonfruit and #squarespace, more businesses are using this technique to spread their messages, trying to become trending topics. These spam hashtags dilute the usefulness of hashtags and Twitter as a whole.
4. Don’t send automatic DMs when someone follows you! Quote from The Seven Twitter Sins: “It’s one of the more annoying forms of Twitter spam: you follow someone only to receive a DM autoresponse that’s spammier than the 200 spam emails you had to delete when you opened your email in the morning.”
And finally, follow twitter.com/spam and DM any spam tweets you find and the accounts.
If you’re curious, here’s more about how I Tweet.
Some useful tools:
Twitblock: Scan your followers for spamminess, or enter a Twittername to see their spam rating.
BotKiller: kills spambots. See this article.
TwitChuck: before you follow someone, check their username here.
Blocky: users are blocked if they’re found in a spam list
Bot Killer: blocks automatically generated messages
Related Resources:
Here Comes Twitter Spam And How To Fight It
Staying Clear Of Twitter Spam
Stop Twitter Spam
Twitter Spam: 3 Ways Scammers are Filling Twitter With Junk
The Seven Twitter Sins: Twitter Spam Techniques
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this post. I’m still trying to work out what Twitter is good for and this really helps.
Same here. I really appreciate this post!
That reminds me, I really need to go through and get rid of some spammers that I’ve been too lazy to mess with.
Do you see Twitter as strictly a conversational media? I don’t agree with this limitation as I can see a multitude of ways of using it. For example, some news sites use it like a newswire. For some this may seem like spam, for others, useful news, but it doesn’t fit into your conversational model. Others use it to tell mini stories, which also does not lend itself well to conversations. I’d hope you’d expand your concept of the media to include these forms of communication as well.
YRG
Thanks for this, Debbie! I’ve copy saved the links for the tools.
YRG: I see the heart of Twitter as mainly a conversational media, yes. If it was just another RSS feed, I don’t think it would be as popular as it is. I do follow a few of these (mainly publishing news) as well as the rare mini story (like Kathleen Duey’s Twitternovel at http://russet-one-wing.blogspot.com/) but these are the exception rather than the rule.
Some people may use Twitter as a sort of RSS feed, but I already have several of those in other venues.
Hi
Thanks for a great post.
I LOVE your cartoons.
And thank you for the hashtag list you keep on top off.
I have found more quality authors and books and blogs via Twitter than ever before, or anywhere else. (Like this one).
All the best,
twitter: @RKCharron
xoxo
Oh how I hate Twitterspam! Every day I get a new follower trying to show me pictures. The spammers are getting smarter too. Usually I can tell by the picture or last tweet, but lately I’ve noticed that they’ll tweet about recent movies or books. But then somewhere down the timeline there is a tweet saying “Hey check out my sexy pics.” BLOCKED!
Thanks Debbie for this post. I will definitely put these tips to good use.
That was helpful. Thanks.
After reading this post I have now scheduled time to cull followers and aggressively explore Twitter connections, delete Spam, etc.
Fantastically useful post. Thanks for sharing. I am also fairly new to Twitter and finding it to be useful, but potentially full of pitfalls I’d like to be on top of.
Some good advice there Debbie, and I concur with Audrey about spammers getting smarter too.
Some of them seem to be populating there twitter accounts with other peoples tweets in an attempt to look legitimate. With this in mind, when I check out new followers I have a good look at their list of previous tweets to see if they sound like they’re written by the same person/the person in the picture. If there’s anything that just doesn’t sit right… BLOCK.
I also think that you and YRG are both right. Twitter definitely has a place as a kind of substitute for RSS feeds, but in my opinion, it’s a conversational tool first and foremost. Luckily, Twitter is big enough that we can each use it in our own way
Excellent post! So I’m not the only one who blocks people with just one tweet, two followers, and following 1,000 people.
I don’t mind spammers because I post inspirational sayings, and I hope the messages will sink in to those who might need them, like those women exploiting themselves sexually. I also figure that they’ll automatically drop me once I don’t follow them back.
Love your tweets, Debbie. I think I click on your blog/article suggestions more than any others. Thanks and keep it up!
Great post. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve blocked dozens of spam followers — and reported them. It’s hard to say whether this really does any good as they seem to come in waves. (I think we’re due for another onslaught of porn.) Your point on followers being a reflection of you is a great point and one that I hadn’t really considered before. I’ve tended to be permissive with followers because even if I wasn’t that interested in them at least they were increasing my numbers — not sure even now why I think that’s important. Usually I only block those who have gotten really annoying or finally recognize as being as spammers. I think you’ve inspired me to get serious about creating a good list of follower (even if I don’t quite make it to 1000).
Great post, but I’m not sure about your logic regarding following-to-follow ratio. Of what possible value is it to follow 2k or 3k people? None, if you ask me. Too much clutter, even using Tweetdeck or a similar program. I tend to respect people who follow 200 or 300 people max and are followed, in turn, by thousands. That makes sense to me. It means that a person follows only those who add value to their feed and have learned to master a twitchy follow-finger. I see someone following 3k people being followed by 3k people, and suddenly I suspect that their list is mostly spammers, bots, and people who follow only to be followed in return. Screams desperation. Perhaps I’m off here?
Thank you! I’m new to Twitter and your information was invaluable.