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Twitter Spam Declines…Or Does It?

posted on March 24, 2010


Twitter would like you to know that the percentage of spam on its network is down—way down.

Of course, Twitter attributes this decline to its efforts to combat spammy tweets, but there are two other explanations to consider.

1. Notice the chart shows percentage of spam, not actually numbers. Could it be that actual spam tweets are on the rise, but the percentage is down due to an even faster growth of legitimate users? I’d love to see the actual numbers.

2. When a network plateaus are the spammers the first to show signs of fatigue? Is this decline a sign that Twitter users are simply not engaging as much these days–even with spammers? ;-)

Thoughts?


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  • http://jjscoaching.com/ Melanie

    I still see a lot of spam in my Twitter feed, and even more in my DM box. Its the DM spam that really annoys me. Why bother? To me it is an automatic reason to unfollow as fast as I followed.
    .-= Melanie´s last blog ..Get Clients with Specific Goals =-.

  • http://survey-marketing.simplycast.com/ Michael

    I would have to go with option #1. I have not seen a decrease in spam within my twitter accounts.

  • http://blog.golden-tech.com/ Finn @ Golden Tech

    Are there comparable numbers which show how many overall tweets were sent out in the same time frame? That would give us an indication as to whether spam tweets declined or just didn’t grow as fast as overall use.

    Now I want to see the numbers.

    Good question.
    .-= Finn @ Golden Tech´s last blog ..Five Reasons to Blog for Your Business =-.

    • http://www.marketingpilgrim.com Andy Beal

      http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/02/50-million-tweets-per-day-were -going-to-need-a-bigger-boat.html

      Looks to me like it’s a case of scenario #1 ;-)

  • http://www.fresh4design.com/ seo wakefield

    Awesome post I use twitter all the time

  • http:/www.crearecommunications.co.uk Luci

    I’d lean towards option one, especially since the last I saw, Tweets were still on a relatively steady rise, rather than fall. I haven’t noticed an actual decline in spam at all, so whilst Twitter may like us to know these figures… I’m still getting far to many spams to believe their efforts are working.

  • http://www.best-seo-blog.com/ Michael Martinez

    Unless they publish the internal metrics they use for measuring spam, it’s unlikely any of us will be able to evaluate their efforts with any real accuracy. I hope they have indeed reduced spam.
    .-= Michael Martinez´s last blog ..Whom do you trust? =-.

  • http://www.awebguy.com Mark Aaron Murnahan

    I follow most of the people who follow me on Twitter. At some point, I guess I figured trying to filter good users and bad users was a waste of time. I wanted anybody who was following my tweets to be able to direct message me if they wanted to, so I re-followed. While I say I follow these people, it does not mean I hang on their every word. I see a little of what they tweet, but I find more useful information by searching Twitter and monitoring some searches. When I look a snapshot of the huge volume of what people are tweeting, if often takes on a close resemblance to spam.
    .-= Mark Aaron Murnahan´s last blog ..Social Media Tactics Without Social Media Strategy Fails =-.

    • Melanie

      To avoid Twitter spam, it is best to stick with URL shortening services, such as http://www.skyzop.com – Skyzop created short links, can be automatically posted to Twitter, and 40 other social networking sites. The best part is, that they actually pay you when you create links with them. kinda cool.

      • http://www.awebguy.com Mark Aaron Murnahan

        Oh, thanks … for the SPAM!

  • http://www.remivladuceanu.com Remi Vladuceanu

    All I can say, I’ve noticed that recently there was no sudden drop in the number of followers on my account as it used to before. When first time this sudden drop occurred I was told it was because of Twitter deleting spammy accounts.

    Now, I couldn’t say if the no. of spammers really dropped or spammers got smarter… :|
    .-= Remi Vladuceanu´s last blog ..Is Russell Brunson’s Viral-Secret List Building System A Scam? =-.

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