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Aug 24 2009

Culling the Spammers from My Twitter Followers: TwitBlock.org Rocks!

Screen shot 2009-08-24 at 3.55.45 PM

Days later the trend continues.

Screen shot 2009-08-26 at 3.04.53 PM

I think I'm beginning to like this. Deleting spammy followers hurts my following, but once you get the hang of it, it really is fun knocking off the quote-spammers, the check-me-out-online spammers, the SEO-spammers. Heck, I think my spammer count has gone UP because I keep mentioning spam, spam, spam, spam, wonderful spam, wonderful spam. My count above, Added since yesterday: -1. Average growth per day: -20. Oh my. I was so close to 7,100! And for what? I may sink forever in a torrent of spammy tweeters. Oh whoa is me and my flock.

From a high of 7,093 I have aggressively BLOCKED spammy followers using TwitBlock.org, my new favorite tool. [I'm not sure how I got spam listed by 9 twitblock users, but I have some suspicions. Oh well. If you're in the neighborhood and would like to "whitelist me" as not spam I'd appreciate it.]

Well, my aggressive unspam blocking has resulted in a drop in my follower count to 6,870. Seems like the Tweespammers are aggressive about unfollowing unfollowers. I say if you're gonna blast crap quote spam, MLM marketing messages and sexcam solicitations I think you should be blocked. Perhaps those folks can figure out who blocked them and block back?

Screen shot 2009-08-24 at 4.20.56 PM

No worries. Seems like the value of a tweet just got a little more easy to spot with Twitblocker. Two great things about this tool.

1. It shows all your spammy followers on one screen allowing your to unfollow a lot of people at once. And the spammers are easy to spot, believe me. Especially when they are all lined up together like a police lineup.

2. As the tool gets more users and more accounts are rated as spam, the ratings will get better and the tool will be better at pulling spammers out of your flow.

Here's a sample output as TwitBlock began scanning my followers:

Screen shot 2009-08-24 at 4.41.10 PM

You can see I have not blocked sxpanel, but I am about to block Schwartz632. It's easy to spot the spammers, but TwitBlock makes it really easy to find them all in one place.

What we need perhaps is a kick ass Tweeter list. I've been wanting to build a matrix of folks I follow in different fields. Like a verification or a seal of approval for some folks I think are awesome. Starting with my very few #FF #followfriday nominations and Mr. Tweet recommendations, I'm sure I could produce a shortlist of recommendations. That will be my next task.

In the mean time keep it clean and add your account to Twitblock.org and get blocking. The twittersphere will thank you and together we can reduce the noise.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/twitblock-inaction

NOTE: If you think I'm spammy please let me know. I'd be happy to understand how I can provide more value for you. My motto is WIIFY (what's in it for you). And an ON NO: In unfollowing so many peeps I just upset my follow/follower ratio and I can follow no more people. Gotta get out the wackin tool again. ARRRGGH!

See also The Twitter Way, the collected posts about Twitter and Doing Twitter Right

A funny post from Mashable on the Top 25 most spammy Twitter Avatar images.

Latest Twitter Posts

My favorite twittertools:

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Jun 04 2009

Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Must've Been Awake!

Category: executive learnings,lifestreaming,tech opinion,tech reviews,toolsjmacofearth @ 6:44 am

The API-sucking apps for Twitter are seriously where the fun begins and ends with Twitter. The network is cool, the followers (though I hate that name) also cool. But the apps working the network is where the real innovation is happening. What has Twitter proper done lately in the way of innovation? Fail? And did I read recently that 90% of Twitter's server load is due to API calls and not people on Twitter.com. So where will Twitter.com, or Biz and Co. at Twitter the company, add value? Cause if Twitter is just a network (and I'd argue that it is), it can/will be replicated and sucked down by Google or Microsoft or Oracle in a wingbeat. Pay attention.

xefer.com (charting the time of day and day of the week when you tweet)

xefer's twitter visualization

tweetbeep (it's like google alerts but for twitter)

picture 41 Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Mustve Been Awake!

tweetreach (how far do your tweets go?)

picture 43 Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Mustve Been Awake!

twist (see trends in Twitter)

picture 44 Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Mustve Been Awake!

backtweets (search links on twitter)

picture 45 Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Mustve Been Awake!

twittervenn (venn diagrams using twitter data)

picture 46 Visualizing Twitter Part Deux: I Tweet Therefore I Am, Or Mustve Been Awake!

I did some fun experiments with Twitter Venn when I discovered it in March, around the time of SXSW. I still think for trending, it may be my favorite tool to show brand reach and currency. So, do you suppose it's just mac fanboys who are creating such a roar about Apple? Even with WIN7 the new iMac/Mac OS killer, Vista-redeemer, Apple is 5 times more likely to be discussed than HP or Dell. And more than twice as frequently as HP or Dell combined. That's Reach and Power combined.

Go poke your head into the Apple Store and tell me what the heck are all those people doing in there? Seriously, the stores are packed!

I know I'm waiting to see what the next iPhone will be. [Hey isn't Father's day coming right up? Nice timing Apple!]

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/visualizations-twitter

Did I miss one of your favorite visualization tools for Twitter? Drop me a line or a comment and I'll add it to my list. THX

A few related visualization-rich posts:

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social media innovation group

future posts

A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools)
Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them?
The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility

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