Wonder what type of verification they'll use to figure out if it's really a spambot or not?

BRB, reporting @Consumerchris as spambot

Don't all twits count as spam?

@Chumas: They'll look at it and see. It's not too hard to tell a real account from a spam account.

"Click the "Report as spam" button under the Actions section of a profile's sidebar and our Trust and Safety team will check it out to see what needs to be done. No automated action will be taken as a result of reporting a user as spam (in other words, it can't be used to incite an angry mob against an account you don't like.)"

I don't understand why spam on a closed-circuit service has to be reported at all. Don't they have computers to spot patterns and trends these days?

@Chumas: @ben: Yeah, if they're following more than about 400 accounts, they're a bot or otherwise unattended. I just flagged my first one, someone who followed me out of nowhere, follows 4000 other accounts, and twitters every hour on watching tv or listing to ipod. yeah.

@nytmare: you would think. like if you follow more than 10 people in a day, enter a recaptcha to keep going, if you go over arbitraty number followed, prove you're human, simple stuff.

This actually makes it easier to clean out your list of followers, because it's right in that gear menu next to each follower in that list.

Of course, this all begs the question: What's a spammer on Twitter? I use a few questions to determine if a person's a spammer:

1. Is the person advertising something you have no interest in? (obvious spammer)
2. Is the person using Twitter as an RSS feed provider? (good sign of a spammer)
3. Does the person follow hundreds or thousands of people but only has under ten tweets to his/her/its credit? (huge sign of a spammer)
4. Is it for porn? (obvious spammer)
5. Is there a good reason for the person to follow you? (very subjective)

@STrRedWolf: for me, #6 is: is the account using a picture i of a blonde lady in a grey suit [insert stock photo of choice] that i have seen about 50 times before?

@STrRedWolf: I've found that #2 isn't all that helpful as both Chris Pirillo and the Consumerist do that.

I am also confused as to twitter spam..... How do you know? I only know we have twitter integrated with some things at work, and our customers follow us.... considering it's commercial, is this spam? Seriously.... I don't know!

@AreYouConfusedYet?HowAboutNow?: Actually a lot of blogs do. Even Woot does it.

@pmcpa4: You'll know when it is spam. You'll just know. (psst, that hot blonde chick calling you a handsome stud... thats spam)

@MostlyHarmless: No... she said she liked me for my Tweets!!!!

@STrRedWolf: I have already been delighted to report one spammer who was following 750, was being followed by one, and had one and only one weird post ending in a link.

@pmcpa4:
Basically, if their tweets are just reposts or URL's back to their blog or company website, you can assume they're spammers or SEO bots.

It's funny that when companies use twitter (and facebook) to market their products and services that's called "viral or social marketing" but when non-name brand companies do the same it's called spam. Both are spam. Both need to be excised.

I just don't get the point of spammers on Twitter. If you're not following them, you will never see their posts. It must be an extremely ineffective social media platform for them. Who would follow obvious spammers or ever click on their links?

No, wait, don't answer that.

@LatherRinseRepeat: got it!

@dollywould: The only time I've run into a problem with Twitter spam is if I'm searching the trending topics. Spammers tend to glom on to popular topics and mix their shortened url junk into the stream.

@dollywould: Or if you get something like this @smashville: Check out this band...or extend your penis size...or larger breasts without surgery...or whatever.

@pmcpa4: If someone follows several hundred people, nobody has followed them back, and their only tweet has a URL in it, they're spammers or bots of some kind.

@LatherRinseRepeat: All my tweets are links back to my blog (which is completely personal and non-commercial). I use Twitter solely to alert my "followers" that I've written a blog post. Is that wrong?

(There's nothing I can communicate that is worth communicating in 140 characters...)

@RWB: clearly, since it took 268 to just say that^ :)

@dollywould: Agreed, I just don't understand why this is a problem. If they "@" me, I report them, but otherwise why would I care? Using these rules wouldn't @barackobama would be a spammer?

@RWB: Did you run around following them so they would follow back, or did they go and follow you instead? If it's the latter, you're definitely not spamming.

@nytmare: Even the best automated pattern- and trend-spotter isn't as good as crowdsourcing.

@theblackdog_ReviewingCode: Mostly the latter. There are a few I started following first, but mainly because they were my friends already.

I will be the first to confess that I don't really get Twitter. I initially got on it to follow my Congressman's tweets, and he sounds like an even bigger moron than usual when he tweets!