Using Tweetbacks, Chatcatcher or other Twitter Blog Commenting tools to show Twitter references in the comment section of your blog? YES, your plug-in or script is spamming your blog.
When @DanZarrella first came up with a script and then a plug-in for wordpress called Tweetbacks, the Twittersphere embraced it.
Another plug-in for WordPress called Chat Catcher does the same thing.
Pulling feeds into the comments or pingbacks (referrals to your post on others’ blogs) below blog posts was seen as a good thing by many in the Twittersphere.
Yesterday, a story by @DaivRawks identifed Tweetbacks as harmful, allowing twitter spam to permit messages in his blogs comment section that did not refer to the original post.
This is not the only way Tweetbacks and other Twitter plug-ins spam your blog.
Is every Tweetback or Twitter comment on your blog spam?
The majority of Twitter comments on your blog are spam. Even those Retweets from your followers are indeed a form of Spam.
According to What is Spam?
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it.
As a reader of your blog, I’m interested in three valuable aspects of your content:
- The original post
- Valuable comments and ideas from readers
- Referral Ping-backs so I can see others who have incorporated your ideas into other blog posts
Before adding a Twitter comment feeder such as those above to your blog ask yourself this question
- What value are Twitter comments adding to your blog?
If your answer is:
- vanity – it makes you feel good seeing others mention your post or lets you track how often folks are forwarding the post to others, consider traditional analytics or twitter search tools to monitor your reputation.
- to give exposure to your followers – it’s only a matter of time before people pick up on the idea that your blog indeed gives your followers exposure every time they RT a reference to your post. With one click, they get their image and twitter ID, associated with your blog. These folks are riding on your coattails. And in many ways, they get better exposure than those who actually take the time to comment if your script pulls in their photo & twitter id.
- to see what others think - That’s what comments are for. If readers are there on your blog, they can just more easily share their ideas in full. Yesterday, in reading Dave Fleet‘s fine blog post I found my comment box at the bottom of numerous Tweetbacks (there are about 50 now!). The twitter comments go something like this: Awesome post, Hey I found this great post, etc. Isn’t this just the sort of stuff we call spam when it ends up in the comments section? With one look at the definition of spam above for reference, you’ll see this type of stuff fits the definition of spam well. In fact, I didn’t even notice the actual comments which were positioned above these Twitter referrals. Granted if people used Twitter’s 140 characters to comment in a meaningful way on the post, I’d say great. But who is going to filter these comments?
Twitter Spam: The root of the problem
Twitter Spam tools provide a temporary gain for users – Yup, unfortunately this sort of Twitter Spam with your permission will get you more RT’s and more readers. When folks start to identify your blog as a Twitter Spam haven, you’ll get more RT’s than ever. And more followers. Are these the kind of followers you want?
And the rich conversation on your blog will be even harder to follow.
Is this the Web we want it to be? What are your thoughts on Twitter Spam?
photo by inuyaki.com
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