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10/12/2009 11:29:41 AM · #1 |
I signed up for twitter a while back, but I don't use it.
Over the past month, I've gotten notices about people following my twitter account. But since I don't really post anything, I figure these are some sort of spammer/scammers grabbing names.
But I don't really understand twitter enough to guess what they might be up to. Anyone know?
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10/12/2009 11:56:29 AM · #2 |
| They might not necessarily be spammers, they could be following people from your area, they could be following you based on your bio (that's if you put anything into your bio like photographer, for example). Then again they might be spammers, I usually block known spammers. Then they can't follow me. |
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10/12/2009 11:58:39 AM · #3 |
There are two possibilities when this happens. The first is that a friend of yours signed up and found you based on your email. The second is that it's a spammer. They follow you hoping you'll go look at their page when you get the notification.
~Terry
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10/12/2009 12:02:39 PM · #4 |
i just dont get twitter in general. seems silly to me.
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10/12/2009 12:04:15 PM · #5 |
More-than-likely, if you do not recognize their name or profile pic, then they are probably spammers. If you click to view their profile, then normally have no other information there except for a link to their web site--the web site that they want to trick you into visiting.
Also, another tip-off may be that if they have hundreds (or thousands) of people they follow, but they, themselves, have almost no followers.
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10/12/2009 12:08:57 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by soup:
i just dont get twitter in general. seems silly to me. |
I agree. :-) |
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10/12/2009 12:12:33 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by soup:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i just dont get twitter in general. seems silly to me.
You have to find your niche in it. I use it because my teens all use it as their primary communication tool and it keeps me in close touch with them, especially the one away at college. I follow a few celebs I find amusing (Kevin Smith tweets the most hilarious stuff you can imagine) |
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10/12/2009 12:47:13 PM · #8 |
Thanks...I was thinking the scam was to get me to look at their profiles, but since I didn't want to fall into their "trap", I decided not to look (which of course, means I couldn't see if that was the case!)
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10/12/2009 12:59:26 PM · #9 |
i do ?
Originally posted by jmulvihill:
You have to find your niche in it. |
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10/12/2009 01:04:38 PM · #10 |
When you sign up for a twitter account one option to 'find friends' is that it searches your contacts list (say, from your gmail account) and follows anyone it finds.
So anybody who has emailed you from their gmail account could be following you. Or, it could be spammers. |
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10/12/2009 01:06:49 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by nshapiro:
Thanks...I was thinking the scam was to get me to look at their profiles, but since I didn't want to fall into their "trap", I decided not to look (which of course, means I couldn't see if that was the case!) |
You can look at their profile page as long as it's the twitter.com site. Just don't click on their "personal" link from that page.
Another tip is to see how many times they have tweeted. If they have tons of people that they follow, but have little to no tweets themselves, be wary.
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10/12/2009 01:09:25 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by JH:
When you sign up for a twitter account one option to 'find friends' is that it searches your contacts list (say, from your gmail account) and follows anyone it finds.
So anybody who has emailed you from their gmail account could be following you. Or, it could be spammers. |
That's the first problem, right there.
Never (NEVER) allow any online application to access your personal address book (contacts list, etc). You think all they do is read it to find people? Think again. Some sites take these email addresses (including all your own non-published email addresses that you may have) and sell them to marketers.
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10/12/2009 08:12:23 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by JH:
When you sign up for a twitter account one option to 'find friends' is that it searches your contacts list (say, from your gmail account) and follows anyone it finds. |
Erm, not accurate. It searches for people in your address book but you have to add them yourself. |
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10/12/2009 08:16:06 PM · #14 |
soup
i do ?
well....you DON'T....i'm just saying i thought it was silly myself, until i found mine... |
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10/12/2009 08:21:38 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by AperturePriority:
More-than-likely, if you do not recognize their name or profile pic, then they are probably spammers. If you click to view their profile, then normally have no other information there except for a link to their web site--the web site that they want to trick you into visiting.
Also, another tip-off may be that if they have hundreds (or thousands) of people they follow, but they, themselves, have almost no followers. |
Saying it's "silly" is being gentle. It seems somewhere between inane and hopelessly narcissistic to me. :-)
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10/12/2009 08:28:19 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
Originally posted by AperturePriority:
More-than-likely, if you do not recognize their name or profile pic, then they are probably spammers. If you click to view their profile, then normally have no other information there except for a link to their web site--the web site that they want to trick you into visiting.
Also, another tip-off may be that if they have hundreds (or thousands) of people they follow, but they, themselves, have almost no followers. |
Saying it's "silly" is being gentle. It seems somewhere between inane and hopelessly narcissistic to me. :-) |
I didn't say it was silly--someone else did.
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10/12/2009 09:33:00 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
Saying it's "silly" is being gentle. It seems somewhere between inane and hopelessly narcissistic to me. :-) |
Kinda sums up the whole internets, doesn't it? |
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