Twitterpated

[dreamshark]

Okay, I joined Twitter as "sekahn" (but haven't tweeted anything yet). I am now following 13: pretty much everybody I ran across that I know IRL, all the participants in the Slate Political gabfest, and a couple of non-human entities just to see how that works out.

Okay, that's a little creepy. I have managed to acquire 6 followers. Four people who either saw my post on LJ or noticed that I had started following them, and two total strangers with whom I seem to have absolutely nothing in common. WTF? I realize that Twitter is a broadcast medium, not a true social network where you just chat with your friends. But where did these two followers come from?

Oh. I see. Both of them have links to their websites in their profiles. Both websites have the words "free" and "porn" prominently featured.
Yuck. Is there some way to block stuff like this?

Comments

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

To block: on the right side of your Twitter page, click on "Followers." For each entry on the list, go to the icon on the right (past following/follow.) Click on the down-pointing arrowhead.

Two of the actions would be useful in this case. You can block the follower. Or you can report it/them/her/him for spam, which will also block them and might get them barred from Twitter.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I had found the little hidden menu, and performed both actions on these guys (not realizing that reporting for spam also did a block).