How My Friends Handle Twitter Spam

I get a lot of spam on Twitter. Maybe you do too? Ha. If I get one more “ray of sunshine” or “high five” from you guys, I’m gonna puke, alright?

If you spend any time on Twitter you know what I’m talking about. Not sure what the actual appeal is here or why ANYONE thinks I’m actually going to click on their link “How to Get 10,000 Followers on Twitter in 5 Days”, but nonetheless, spam is here to stay 🙂

That said, deciding how to deal with Twitter spam is a concern I wanted to put to rest for a bit. So I did something crazy…I asked all my friends on Twitter what they do, and I got some great feedback!

Since a lot of us use Twitter daily, I thought it would be worthwhile to share the results of my little quiz with you and let you in on how I plan to handle the spam I get on Twitter.

Options of How to Deal With Twitter Spam

There are really only a few options, and I was surprised to hear that many people don’t seem to realize how they work, so I wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page. Here are your options:

• Report the spam to @spam. This is highly recommended, and I was surprised that not one single person mentioned this. Are you aware of this option? I thought it was common knowledge 🙂 It takes just a second, and if you use Tweetdeck, it takes just two clicks.
• Unfollow them. If you’re following the person, it’s simple to just quietly unfollow them. This doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility of receiving spam from the offender again, but it decreases the chances of it. If you’re not following them, at least they cannot send you a direct message. They can still send you replies though.
• Block them. This actually may not accomplish what you think it will. I think blocking is not presented clearly on Twitter, because when you block someone, all that really happens is that they can no longer follow you. But of course, if someone wants to see your tweets, all they have to do is go to your profile, so blocking doesn’t really do much other than put a tally on the offenders profile. I don’t know what the parameter is, but word on the street is…if a spammer gets enough blocks, their account gets deleted. That’s how you sometimes end up seeing that cool page with an owl on it that says “nothing to see here…”.
• Verbally assault them. Try to scare the crap out of them, so they’ll learn the error of their ways and never spam again. This is actually a great idea, and it usually works *sarcasm*. Some choose to engage in this pointless fun though. Hey, if it lets you blow off some steam… 😉

When Friends Spam You

There were mentions of a distinction when an actual friend (or just about anyone you talk with who you feel really ought to know better) sends you something that is technically spam. Like being a little tactless or overzealous about promoting their new landing page or MLM opportunity, etc. Most people including myself, tend to shrug this off. Between friends, what’s a little spam, right? Just as long as it doesn’t get too crazy. Even friends deserve a smack down from time to time though…am I right, or am I right?

How I’ve Chosen to Deal With Twitter Spam

1. When it comes in, and I don’t know the person…and it’s clearly spam. I report it to @spam…every time. This clears it from my timeline and gives Twitter a heads up.
2. Many of the stupid DM’s I get from friends I just ignore and laugh them off. Being light hearted as often as possible in life pays big dividends. It’s like when a coworker forwards me some stupid cat picture. Am I going to report them to their ISP? Probably not. As long as it doesn’t happen too often 😉
3. I’ve only ever blocked one person, and it was a situation where this user was actually being persistently obnoxious and almost scary. Screw that noise. If someone is actually making you physically uncomfortable…that’s block-worthy.

A Final Word

Don’t let spam get you down. It’s a minor inconvenience in my opinion when placed up against the huge advantages of using Twitter as a communication tool. If you have any questions about Twitter, place em in the comments. I’ll help however I can!