Over the past week or two I’ve noticed a new form of what I would deem Twitter SPAM. I’m not talking about all the crappy auto-responder messages or the direct tweets that try to get you to visit a link. This new form of spam on Twitter is more devious.
Examples:
As you can see from the examples above, the posters are sending out Re-Tweets, but in their messages, they are linking back to their websites in the very beginning of EVERY message. As you can see from the image below, these guys have made a habit out of it.
I’m starting to think that there is some social media “guru” teaching this twitter spam technique to people in real estate, because I’m not really seeing it in any other niche that I’m a part of. Anyone know who is putting this out there?
Why is This Spam?
I’d call this practice spam because it is an underhanded method of shoving your links into the face of anyone that you are communicating with. People can very easily go to your profile and see your link – you don’t need to post it in every one of your tweets that involve other people.
When your friends/followers visit your at (@) messages, these guys now have visibility.
You’re not going to build real relationships by annoying people; social media is about forging bonds. I see no reason to stay connected with someone that does this to those people who are interested in what I’ve got going on.
The Dilemma
Would you rather have some spammy person retweeting your articles, or simply block those people altogether?
I think this will pose a dilemma for many people.
These people are helping to market you, but they are doing so in a spammy way, right? They are potentially putting your link in front of thousands of their followers; is it a good idea to let them continue?
What would you do?
FYI – Clearly, anyone who knows me, realizes that I am no longer following these people; I also blocked them for good measure. I don’t care if I get an extra click here or there because of their re-tweets. The principle of how they are doing it just pisses me off!
Related posts:
- The Twitter Epiphany: Why post on Twitter when you can post on your blog?
- How to Lose Twitter Followers in 8 Steps or Just Turn Everyone Off
- A Losing Battle with Blog Comment Spam? Is Share This Plugin at Fault?
- Are You Blacklisted? How to check the SPAM Blacklists
- Forum Spam Sucks! Learn Forum Marketing the Right Way.
I can see from the prior comments that people are tired of the spam from Twitter. Because I use gmail, Google automatically gave me Buzz. It will be interesting to see how many people move from Twitter to Buzz. Google is fairly good at getting rid of the noise of the Internet. If they effectively remove or control the spam over Buzz, it could become the next big thing.
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