What is Twam?
Twam is Twitter spam. Sadly, your first followers will most likely be spammers, or in the case of Twitter, twammers. These twammers use monitors and scripts to automatically follow anyone that follows one of the most popular Twitterers. They do this because as a Twitter noob you will be very likely to check out anyone who follows you. Their profiles will be filled with affiliate links and with means to entice you to buy products. Twitter has aggressively cracked down on Twammers but still it represents 7% of the activity on Twitter.
Understanding Twam so you can avoid it
Below are some of the most common types of Twitter spam.
1) @reply Spam: Spammers use @ to engage people and lure them to their profile. Their tweets are easy to recognize because filled with @ replies and they don’t actually follow anyone. The are software that can be used that can send replies to everyone on Twitter. The spammer doesn’t need to be following the people in order to do this either. Usually the accounts get banned fairly quickly but it is easy for the spammer to open a new account and repeat the process.
2) Trending Topics Spam: By posting to trending topics, the spammers mention their product rather than being relevant to the topic. The idea is the spammer is trying to take advantage of the popularity of a hot topic on Twitter and uses that to lure people to there product. One way they do this is to have in the conversation Tweet. For example: (Tweet) Read this funny story on #BritneySpears adlink.
This type of spam is used frequently though it won’t get you banned on Twitter, it will definitely annoy many people.
3) Direct Message Spam: Spammers can send you direct messages with their link or product ad. This is a frequent attack used against people with autofollow tools. As a result of the frequently of this type of spam many people ignore their direct messages.
4) Following and Unfollowing Repeatedly:This practice generates a flood of email notices from the same person. This is also known as follow churn and is the most common way Twitter automatically decides to ban an account.
5) Account Spam: Often spammers will open hundreds of accounts. Maybe because of some lack of originality they create accounts like bob111, bob112, bob123, etc.
Any questions about Twitter Spam or Twam, please feel free to contact me at 905-417-9470 or by email at allanp73@gmail.com
