How to Avoid Twitter Spammers

Avoiding spam on social media sites can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. Being vigilant about one’s online presence will help. Worry less about asking friends and family for advice, like asking for restaurant suggestions or where to find information about health insurance. What starts out as an innocent tweet can be considered a buzzword by Twitter spammers and result in needless frustration. Try some or all of the following suggestions to cut down – or eliminate entirely – Twitter spam.

1. Protect those tweets

One of the easiest ways to cut down on or eliminate spam is by protecting tweets. While this will free users to talk all the want about any subject – including the aforementioned health insurance, a topic guaranteed to attract a lot of attention – it will also unfortunately mean that tweets will not be available publicly. Those who do not wish to share their tweets with anyone outside their friends and family are in luck. Businesses who wish to launch or build upon a public profile, however, will likely want to choose another spam-fighting option.

2. Know the culprits

Spammers can often be easily identified. Watch for people who are following thousands but have few – if any – followers themselves. Often these accounts will be created under automatically-generated usernames and will often include stock-image profile photographs. Manually policing an account and blocking these types of accounts can be frustrating, but blocking is easy to do and worth the effort.

3. Choose words wisely

Establishing a code for discussing pertinent topics like health insurance can help cut down on attention from spammers. Consider something simple like “h.i.” that won’t be likely to trigger a spam attack. Switch up the language every so often to throw spammers off the scent. Get creative!

4. File a report

If spam is suspected, consider following @spam, a service provided by Twitter’s headquarters. Suspicious activity can be reported and eventually blocked from the site altogether. Users can also follow @safety for information about keeping their accounts safe from junk.

5. Filter tweets

Using a service like SocialOomph Opt-Out (@optmeout) or TweetBlocker will, respectively, allow users to avoid automatically-sent direct messages and check fellow users’ “spam grades” (the standard A-to-F scale). Cut down on spam as well by choosing not to auto-follow accounts. Doing so is a good way to build a Twitter audience, but it also opens the door to spammers who are using keywords – like “health insurance” – to find people to follow.

These tips should prove useful for helping get a Twitter account under control. Keep a sharp eye out for troublesome followers and find success in avoiding their unwelcome grasp.