Good points all. It is “time for Twitter to get serious.” It’s probably time for all of us to call for a deeper discussion of the implications technology creates in all of our lives. Appreciate running into you on Twitter. That’s definitely the good part.

I was directed to this posting after I tweeted about Twitter’s loss of users in October (7.9%). (Tweet here: Bad sign for Twitter? Or are they just getting rid of the “spam” accounts? “Twitter’s users drop 7.9% in October” http://ow.ly/BSak)

It is definitely time for Twitter to get serious about attacking spam. I consistently sort through my followers and try to report spam accounts. I think the more we all report the spam accounts, the less chance there is of an unknowing suspect clicking on a bad link.

I think Twitter is a great networking concept, but I also think that we have created the perfect environment for spammers. I agree 100% with the post re: Twitter Spammers – The Long and the Short.ly of It. Messages are limited to 140 character short-hand statements. The only way it’s possible to share links is by shortening them. The link-shortening tools make most links look like sketchy, scam-like/virus-like links. I’m always nervous when clicking on a “great article” that someone read. I just hope that I don’t fall victim to a spam link someday whether it’s in a DM or a Tweet, because I know how long it has taken me to acquire my followers…and I can’t imagine how many I would lose if I peppered them all with spam DMs and/or Tweets!

Exactly the question I wonder all the time. Spamming has to be a tough business. But, they say, there’s enough people who click on those fake bank emails to make it work. What a lot of really technical people forget is that most of us are new to most of this. We are wandering in a world that looks real – and when we see a friend suggesting they made money, grew hair or found love – we think, “hey, what do they know that I don’t?”

Every time we hear that young people don’t use Twitter, we think of John Exley, who not only uses it, but will likely have a million dollar job by the time he graduates due to his real, actual, online and offline networking. Others may call themselves social networkers – but John lives, eats and breathes it.

Megan and Gene – what a couple of gracious participants you have been. You’d be surprised at how many “social media experts” never even write back to people in a blog comments section (even the folks who wrote the articles, sometimes!)

Thanks to you both.

About 30% of my daily email is spam, many of my Twitter DM’s are spam, some of my @Replies on Twitter are spam, etc.

I think it is important, as you say, to be as on guard and cautious as possible when checking email and considering clicking on a link. Filtering through spam can be annoying, but it certainly is a necessity.

Finally, the story of your friend Gene is a terrific example of the perfect way to conduct ‘damage control’ should you accidentally spam your friends: personally go to each person and explain your mistake and apologize for the inconvenience. It is the only way to maintain the trust of your friends and colleagues online.

Thanks for the warnings!