Spam: It’s not just a canned ham

Twitter: poultry, not canned ham

With the advent of the Internet came the one thing many of us dislike the most: spam. Yes, we were getting e-mails about Nigerian princesses, about various pharmaceuticals, and other products and/or services. With the advent of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, spam has found another platform. I want to focus in on one (Twitter) in particular because I sense that they aren’t doing enough to combat it.

With e-mail and Facebook, it’s relatively easy to stop spam. You’re never going to eliminate it entirely, but you can report an e-mail address for spam and it directs future messages to your junk mail folder. With Facebook, you always have the option to block an application that posts on your wall or sends you e-mails.

On the other hand, Twitter is like an open book (assuming you don’t lock your profile – but why do that). Anybody with a Twitter account can follow you and send you “@” Tweets. When I set up my Twitter account, there was no system in place to verify that I was a real person. There was no “captcha” system and no e-mail verification. In my mind, this is Twitter’s big mistake (and if they have changed their policy, kudos to them). I’ve noticed, as have those I follow, a huge increase in “bots” over the past few weeks. The vast majority of these bots have consisted of adult material in its bio and in the links it tries to get people to click on (I would assume, anyways – I don’t click them).

I’ve also noticed that once one starts to follow you, five (or more) tend to follow you at the same time. They often use the same profile picture and the same disgusting description of themselves in their bio statement. One or two, not a problem – not at all! But when one finds themselves reporting numerous new followers for spam on a regular basis, it gets a bit irritating. It’s even more irritating that Twitter doesn’t seem to be addressing the problem.

So, this leads me to my Open Message to Twitter: take measures to control spam on your site. Implement an e-mail verification system or a “captcha” system. It takes two seconds for people to click a link in their e-mail or to type in a series of random letters and numbers to verify that a human is sitting on the other end of the computer. When I compare you to other platforms, you lag far behind; my e-mail knows how to capture spam. Facebook is pretty good at it too. Heck, even WordPress captures spam comments and diverts them away! Spam is very prevalent on your system, Twitter, and it drives me (and I’m sure others) crazy.

N.B.: To be fair to Twitter, they do have the “Report Spam” option. That said, more should be done on the sign-up phase to prevent people from having to use the button as often as I have had to lately.