Our twitter account just tried to sell everyone we know Viagra...
With the rising trend in twitter 'direct message' spam, be careful who you follow and which applications you allow to link into your account.
A habit has developed among a number of online comms and business folk that they 'thank' everyone who follows them and 'autofollow' the user back. This can be good for your numbers, but it's a risky & impersonal strategy that may see all your followers (old and new) spammed with unwanted info from your brand channel.
Even if, like us, that isn't your approach - you should always check out the people you follow when following back. Don't just read their bio. It turns out our 'wind energy' enthusiast actually had a feed full of the types of message our account ended up sending out.
- Lesson learned.. Always read the feed.
We've reported the spam issue to twitter and apologise if you've received any... Of course if its still sending weird messages, let us know!
For those interested, there may be value in validation services like TrueTwit to avoid spam and bots, though many introduce 'extra steps' for followers which can be off putting.