Yesterday I wrote a post highlighting the issues I’ve been having with DM spam with Twitter. I sent an email to Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and then discovered something that is epically wrong.

Biz asked in his email whether I’d given access to the spammers before they sent the message. Since I’ve since discovered, they can’t send DM’s if you haven’t already followed them.

Here’s the thing: I hadn’t followed any of them, and yet when I followed through to EVERY spammers account Twitter was showing that I’d followed them. I can say with 110% certainty that I hadn’t, so what gives?

There are two possibilities. The more likely one is that a third party Twitter service I’ve used offered my login details to the spammers/ spamming service in question. The less likely option is that my Twitter account was hacked. As a precaution I’ve reset my Twitter email to something very obscure.

Given that I don’t think my account was hacked (it’s very unlikely) the question is which Twitter third party service gave over my details? Today I’m offering a starting rate of $100 to the person or company that answers that question.

The starting rate is on these terms: I know when I put that spam post up here and on Twitter that I’m far from alone in the Twitter DM spam issue, and this is where I need your help. Even if it’s $5, I’m looking for those affected like I have been to commit to the solution. The more pledges we gather, the better chance someone will solve it for us.

Please leave your name, website, and pledge amount in the comments. Together we can put a stop to this problem by identifying the third party service who is giving our details to spammers. If you’re interested in the reward, email me at duncan at nichenet.com.au. Let’s try for a Sunday cut off for pledges, and we can go from there. I’ll be emailing all the details to Twitter as well so once we identify the bad company and hopefully they can cut them off.

Reward: $100 and more for identifying who is handing over Twitter access to spammers is a post from: The Inquisitr

As Twitter has grown, its appeal to spammers has grown along with it. From the earliest days of Twitter, spammers started targeting the service, but sadly the problem is becoming far, far worse.

The latest craze in Twitter spam is fake followers, who send a direct message to Twitter users stating something along the lines of “thanks for following me, check out my site (link).” I use the word craze in context: this form of spam isn’t new on Twitter, but it’s currently surging.

The picture above shows the DM spam I’ve received in the last 7 hours alone…and the rate is increasing. Before writing this post, I had three in a matter of 10 minutes. I can block them, or report them as they appear, but they are quickly replaced by new accounts.

There’s no official word from Twitter as to what they’re doing about the problem, if anything. The Twitter Spam account hasn’t been updated since July 13 (and before that June 30…then June 14) and the Twitter blog says nothing of the problem.

If they aren’t dong anything about it, they need to urgently. This spam is a cancer on Twitter and risks undermining the usefulness of the Twitter direct message system. It’s annoying enough for established Twitter users, but I’d think it would be worse again for newer users, and could in some cases scare them away, undermining Twitter’s growth potential going forward.

Twitter needs to act urgently on direct message spam is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mashable posted this morning about YoTwits (another way of automating your Twitter feed) and asking whether automated tweets are necessarily a bad thing.

Because if Twitter needs something desperately, it’s more automated bollocksology. Personally, I think automating your tweets is douchey. The post poses the question, what if you’re not a big link sharer or don’t have the time to share the things that interest you?

Answer: Then please stop putting information out onto the interwebs. Think about it- you don’t have the time to read it or the interest in reading it. Why the hell would your followers? While the obnoxiousness of automated info-spamming isn’t exclusive to Twitter, Twitter is one of the places the practice is glaringly unwanted and disruptive. Anyone who uses Twitter regularly probably already has excessive unwanted crap in their feed, so please don’t even think about using a service like YoTwits.

Mind, I’m not calling Mashable out here- for their part, this was part of the post that sparked mine:

The most innovative concept is the Retweet Anyone feature, but it too falls victim to the same problem: you aren’t reading anything you’re retweeting. People trust your judgement when they see links retweeted by you – if they realize you aren’t reading any of them, that trust may be gone.

There may be a legitimate, non-douchey use for something like this (as I’m sure I’ll hear in the comments) but I can’t get past the utter rudeness of expecting your follwers to read something you couldn’t be bothered to even glance at.

Not to mention the fact that malware can and does sneak into your tweets more easily if you’re not watching, and even the most prominent users aren’t immune.

Is auto re-tweeting a bad thing? Yes, says me is a post from: The Inquisitr

The usefulness of Twitter now stands to be further comprimised by new initiatives to entice power users to tweet for cash.

Anyone who uses Twitter can tell you what a royal pain it is to sift through spammy tweets in search of the interesting stuff. And now the company behind a controversial pay per post blogging program wants in on your Twitter feed, too.

While Izea believes sponsored Twitter postings will be “self-policed” and not run roughshod over the popular service, Twitter users know all too well how hard it is for people to resist the lure of incessant self-promotion and marketing. When directly linked with tangible financial gain, how long will it be before Twitter is useless due to the volume of spam?

This isn’t the first time Izea, formerly called Pay Per Post, has stirred up controversy in the blogosphere. From the AdWeek piece:

Izea is not without its critics, which assert that the company’s paid bloggers often do a poor job of disclosure. Julia Allison, an Internet celebrity of sorts, was heavily criticized for posting about Sea World without disclosing that her coverage was part of an Izea program. She subsequently updated her post to reflect that connection. The Federal Trade Commission recently set new guidelines for bloggers who endorse products for payment.

Even Izea’s CEO Ted Murphy admits the idea has the potential for abuse, saying:

“The question is going to be how do you meter it to make sure it doesn’t get crazy.”

If the recent Spymaster craze is any indication, it’s only a matter of time before Twitter is overrun with #spon hashtags

This tweet brought to you by… is a post from: The Inquisitr