How to Spot Spam Bot On Twitter

Twitter has spam issue. The social network's "follow anyone" model allows a steady influx of spammers to reach out to many people in a short amount of time, hoping at least one of them will click on a sketchy link.
While a recent glitch preventing users from sending links in direct messages may have been Twitter's latest defense against spam, there's no doubt that it remains a major problem for the platform.

The best way to avoid spam is to follow only people who you know and profiles that have been verified — but we know that that isn't always plausible, so we've made a handy checklist of ways to spot a spambot before you follow them.
Not every spammer will fall under one of these eight telltale signs, but eliminating a few of these common denominators can save you a lot of hassle.

1. Excessive Sexuality

Image: Twitter If a new follower has an avatar that really accentuates some impressive cleavage, or she's posting a lot of suggestive links, she's probably not interested in your sparkling personality. It's more likely that she's a spambot.
Sex sells, and spammers are counting on catching your attention by posting sexual images and suggestive links. You're better than this. Don't be too heartbroken; she's not the type of girl you could take home to Mom anyway.

2. Skewed Ratio

Before automatically following everyone that follows you, first check their profiles. If the follower/following ratios are completely skewed (as in, following hundreds but has zero followers), they probably aren't legit.
That said, there are plenty of people who follow back anyone who follows them, so don't be surprised if you get spammed by someone who has a lot of followers.

3. Only "Amazing" Offers

Image: Twitter A spammer doesn't waste time creating actual tweets. If all of a user's tweets are too-good-to-be-true deals ("whiten your teeth with this one easy trick!") or very vague ("OMG check this out!"), and come with an attached link, there's something spammy going on.

4. No Tweets at All

If a user follows over a thousand people, has 300 (very foolish) followers, hasn't posted a single tweet, does that make any sense to you at all? The answer is no.
While some people choose to use Twitter just as a means to follow news sources and celebrities without actually bothering to tweet anything, you're not really benefitting by following them anyway. Better to play it safe and not follow than get spammed.

5. Misspelled Words and Nonsense

Image: Twitter Another dead giveaway for a spambot: lots of misspelled words. One or two mistakes is normal, but multiple misspellings in every tweet? Not a good sign.
Also look for tweets that make no sense, have no context or are constantly reaching out to other Twitter users who don't respond.

6. Female Avatar, Male Name

Since the dawn of Twitter, there have been several generic avatars that spammers return to again and again when creating a fake profile. If that pretty blonde girl who just followed you is named Kevin, you might want to rethink whether or not she's the real deal.
Like we said before, sex sells, and that spammer is probably figuring you'll just check out the picture without looking too closely at the name.

7. Egg Avatars

Lady Gaga might have reverted to the egg icon as a publicity stunt, but don't let spammers fool you. The egg can either be a sign of an inexperienced Twitter user or a spammer; use other clues like ratio, spell-check and tweet quality to determine which one it is.

8. Oddly Generic Bio — or No Bio at All

Image: Twitter The Twitter bio is something of an art form — it's a skill that eludes many people. Most bios follow a generic pattern, many of which include punchy statements like "social media enthusiast" or "tech maven" or "web guru." These types of bios, while common, are very easy for a spammer to replicate in order to seem genuine.
Be wary of them, and even more so of the bios that consist of only a shortened link. It's probably not something you want to click on.
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