It has become quite evident that Twitter needs to do something with spam. With an extremely low barrier to entry, it isn’t that difficult for someone to sign up for the service with the sole purpose of tweeting links out that have no purpose but to attract more visitors to their site or get out their message.

From the perspective of users, it would only be with best intentions that Twitter confronts the spammers head-on, with the purpose of reducing the number of users that are simply abusing the system. Although many bloggers would not like to hear this, links should be banned from Twitter. Obviously, I promote links back to this site through the service, but it is typically less than one per day, so that is a minuscule amount compared to others, who may be linking out every minute.

Before I go any further, I’d like to address the main concerns that people have and why they need to be prevented in some way or another.

Types of Spam

Trending Topic Spam

Trending topics are an important part of the service, helping to gauge what the community is talking about. It’s also a great way for anyone using Twitter to get quick recognition. All you need is to develop a network of people who will continually repeat a message using hashtags or similar keywords.

Spammers exploit this feature by placing all the keywords, or at least a good portion of them into their tweets. Then, as someone clicks on a term on the list, they are confronted with a selection of tweets that have no relevancy to the topic.

Other people might say that this isn’t as large of a problem, as the spam terms usually don’t remain trending for more than a few minutes, but nonetheless, it is a growing concern that companies will “pay” to get into this list, even though there really isn’t any news about it.

Direct Message Spam

Like chat and other forms of “private” communication, Twitter also has a method of keeping some things private. After all, you wouldn’t want certain messages appearing within the general search. However, as more spammers take control of the service and exploit it for their personal benefit, it will become more difficult to keep track of what is a valid DM and what’s from a spammer.

For bloggers and people owning sites, you have to learn fairly quickly what you should be clicking on and what you shouldn’t be. With so many shortened URLs, you are taking a chance with every click, especially on Twitter. You have to learn who is an authority on Twitter and who isn’t, in addition to the sincere and those looking to profit off of your action.

General Spam

As I said earlier, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes before you have placed hundreds of links to your site on Twitter. For this reason, there are many people who simply use the service to place links to a product. While I can’t apply this to bloggers, as their links change, there are those who continually push out those affiliate products and ebooks which are often regarded as “spam.”

In any search, you’re bound to find a collection of these links, often bunched together and inviting you to click on them. Resisting the pressure, you should simply avoid them and realize that they’ll be lost as more tweets/messages go through the service.

At the Core of Spam

Spam comes in various forms, and sometimes there is a fine line between what constitutes a spam message from a simple promotion on the service. We’ll likely never receive a definition of what is a spam message and what isn’t, as everyone has their own opinion. However, more action has to be taken if we want to continue using the service for what it was intended, and that is “saying what we are doing/thinking.”

Additionally, beyond the time cost, it is likely more expensive to accept the spam messages and users than it would be to put into place an efficient system of monitoring and accurately reporting spam. While verified accounts have helped separate the hijacked accounts from the real users in some cases, it is just the first step.

How to Report Spam

If you find a user that is excessively spamming the service or abusing the system, follow twitter.com/spam and DM any spam tweets you find and the accounts.

Major issues such as malicious links are also posted to this account, although not all complaints are issued to the public through this account.

Information to “Fight” Spam

Below I have collected a few further resources and Twitter apps that allow you to analyze accounts, minimize spam, or fight back against spam in any way possible.

Websites and Services (Apps)

• TwitChuck – If you hate Twitter spam, this is your site. Before you follow someone, you can check to see whether it is safe to follow someone. By analyzing the time someone signed up, how frequently he or she communicates, as well as a number of other factors, it reports back to you who to follow.
• Bot Killer – Blocks messages that appear to have been automatically generated.
• Clean Tweets – A Firefox add-on that makes it possible to actually see Twitter the way it was meant to be – without spam. Search and trending topic spam is literally eliminated by activating this add-on.
• Blocky – Blocks Twitter spammers from your account by checking them against a list that they have created.
• Tidy Tweet – Keeps your Twitter feed free from inappropriate language, users, and content by eliminating users/tweets according to a set of standards.

Blogs and Other Resources

• Stop Twitter Spam – This site is dedicated to reporting cases of malicious links, spam throughout the service, and helps spam haters come together to eliminate spam.
• Twitter Blog – How Twitter is planning on handling spam and what spam can be defined as.

Conclusion

If you have any additional ways that you use to combat Twitter spam on your own, please let me know in the comments area below.