In case you didn’t realize this, Twitter has a serious problem with fake accounts. They may be spam, phishers, bots — who knows. But I thought I’d let you know how to spot some of these phony accounts. Today is a #DoNotFF day, my dears. pic.twitter.com/IPpW09bQwg
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
#DoNotFF any account that has no tweets. I mean, honestly, if you’re going through the trouble of setting up an account, and Twitter offers you several “first tweet” options, how hard is it to not post anything. No tweets should = No Follow#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
I hate to be cruel about this one, but you should not follow anyone who sends you unsolicited DMs, especially if they’re autoDMs. They’re against Twitter’s rules as of Nov 2017, and people are still finding ways to break those rules. Why reward them? #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow accounts that have very few tweets, sometimes as few as 2-3, yet has thousands of followers. These are fake accounts. Other fake accounts are “following” them in order to snare real accounts. Be Twitter smart.#DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow accounts if you cannot read the language in which the person is tweeting. This seems like common sense to me, and I’m certainly not saying that everyone needs to tweet in the same language, but if you can’t read what they tweet #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow accounts with nothing but RTs. This is a huge warning sign of automated accounts. Remember that you want interaction on Twitter, especially if you’re a writer or an author. Even if it’s other authors who are RTing, that’s not engagement. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Do not follow an account that has a few original tweets in the beginning, but then has nothing but RTs. These are fake accounts that are trying to pretend they are real people. They soon go to automation because that’s how they make money. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow accounts with click-bait tweets. If you don’t know what that is, you need to learn fast. Here are some examples:
You won’t believe what these child-stars look like.
Man’s wife dies and he finds this in oven.
Teen pops pimple and finds this.#DoNotFollow #WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow accounts because they’re verified. Some countries have an inordinate number of ostensibly verified accounts: if you make the mistake of following back, you get followed by hundreds, literally, of other verified accounts from the same place #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
If you get followed by more than one account with the same profile pic, header, and pinned tweet, do not follow any of them. They’re either bots or the owners have gotten into trouble for doing something against Twitter rules. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
If you get followed by more than one account with the exact same tweets, do not follow them back. These are also bots. They’re automated so it’s not too hard to see when they’re not a real person behind the account, but I’ve been tricked a few times.#DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Unfollow anyone who claims that they’ll do things for you if you only do about a hundred million things for them first, especially if it involves your doing things that financially benefit this person. Yes, there are writers who do this kind of crap.#DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Do not follow anyone who offers to sell you Twitter followers. Not only is this against Twitter’s rules, but you won’t get human followers. They’ll be bots, and if you’re hoping for book sales from followers, nothing will happen if they’re fake followers#DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
These suggestions are my personal ones, but feel free to protect yourself like this as well. I don’t follow accounts with no BIOs, no tweets, no header, no profile picture, locked (I mean, I can’t see what they’re writing), no real name (just bill394857)#DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Don’t follow anyone who has dozens of accounts with variations on their name, like author2, author3, author4, author5. This indicates that the person has broken Twitter rules and been suspended permanently. They’re only here for themselves. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
Tractus Fynn @TractusFynn suggested looking at the number of Likes on an account before following back. 0 Likes = 0 involvement and 0 participation. Also, you might add 0 Replies = way too selfish to follow back as no “social” in social media. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
If you think of any other red flags about accounts, please do let me know. I feel like I’m forgetting some of the obvious ones. I’ll RT them so others can avoid these fake accounts. Remember that you want engagement with real peoples, not with bots. #DoNotFollow #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) June 1, 2018
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