This is an example of the “New Twitter Spam” that is going around. Things like this don’t really surprise me anymore because hijacking someone comments is nothing new and this would be a variation of that for sure. This twitter account posts the old style RT every 10-20 minutes however, the accounts mentioned or inferred as the owner, never actually sent that tweet.

The following scenario is just from my observations and a little bit of research.

There are 5 accounts that benefit from this in some way by leveraging the reputation of the account mentioned in the RT. The first is the obvious spammer @TandyDando8156 by doing RT at the very least the person that is mentioned is going to check it out. This account, since its sole purpose is to drive traffic, is expendable.

The other accounts mentioned in the tweet are a little more difficult to assess the purpose and intent. This is a clear case of hijacking someones reputation for their own benefit. The most likely culprit of the accounts mentioned is the affiliate account @getskinnyfaster as they would have the most to gain financially. Some affiliates are known to push the envelope on what would be considered acceptable for their benefit.

The other 3 accounts, @kmrpr, @jasonader, and @davenmichaels are more legitimate but there is one that throws up a red flag as the possible mastermind behind this. There is no way of telling for sure without an in depth analysis but I’ll let you decide which one you think it is.

This looks more like a “test account” strictly to determine the effectiveness of this one scenario. The laziness of choosing the same four accounts tells me this and only posting the same information over and over again.

The scenario would look like this: the spammer account would promote the affiliate account to make money. The account would also include in other legitimate accounts and possibly one of their other personas online as well in order to give the account a “real person” feel to it.

In essence the spammer steals the reputation of the legitimate twitter accounts to make a profit for himself/herself. I would put this in the same category with the tabloid magazines using sensational headlines and altered photos of celebrity persons to sell more magazines. However, this is for another discussion.

Have you seen this or other twitter spam? Let me know and leave a comment below.

This is just a quick post on something that I noticed logging on to my twitter account. It doesn’t happen all the time but I do see the “trends” option added to the menu bar.

Here’s a screen shot:

It’s actually a drop down menu that show you all the current “Hot Topics” being discussed on Twitter. With a little bit a creativity this could be a gold mine for the astute marketer. You would have to be a very good spinster but it is possible to get you message out to the masses by flexing your imagination a bit.

For example:
One of the trends this past week was #SXSW (South by SouthWest) which held their 12th annual interactive web awards. As with every award that’s out there you will agree with some and not with others. By voicing your opinion on Twitter and including the hash tag #SXSW you are now part of the conversation.

Now comes the hard part. Don’t just give your opinion solicit a response by asking other people what they think as well.

Try it you may just like.

In fact you can start now by leaving a comment or event just tweeting your opinion

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