Twitter tries 'following' limits to curb spam

Did you know that you can only follow 2,000 people on Twitter--unless there are at least 2,000 people who have opted to follow you?

This was one of the measures that the microblogging service formally announced Thursday as part of a new system to cut down on spam. The company acknowledged it only obliquely, but bloggers like David Risley picked up on the news and spread the word.

Twitter spam accounts are known for adding thousands of followers and then hoping that some of the unwitting Twitter users will follow the spam account in return--most don't, meaning that spam accounts tend to have a disproportionately low number of followers in contrast to the number of people they've added. But extremely popular Twitter accounts, from Web celebs like Jason Calacanis to the Twitter feeds for news outlets like CNN and political campaigns like Barack Obama's, Twitter still allows the adding of more than 2,000 followers. The rationale is that if people are willing to add them back, they probably aren't spam.

Risley suggested that Twitter could offer paid accounts to raise the limit, which could be a viable first step for a service that still has not put a business model in place.

[benjaminstraight]

2k is alot. Nobody is that popular.

[umbrellaRL]

I agree with Benjamin.

Wallstrip had an episode about Twitter yesterday and I loved it....it's at http://www.wallstrip.com/2008/08/11/twitter/

[Harrison912]

I agree with Benjamin too. However, I know a girl who aquired 1,000 friends in one month on FaceBook. She's a social network marketer.

I too use FaceBook, Twitter and other social sites to raise awareness for my safety and security products but aquiring 2,000 names in a month is more than I can handle.

As a social marketer myself, I find it helps to interact with the people I am following or friending. Adding people so quickly can backfire. Those you are trying to reach lose the relationship experience and feel more like a number to you.

I think Twitter has instituted a good policy.

[Thought Nozzle]

It's about time! I've gotten really tired of messages saying someone has opted to follow me, only to find that they're following 5,127 other people, they've just joined 20 minutes ago, and they've posted 1 or no tweets. I'm not sure why anyone would follow these obvious spammers... This is one of the problems with allowing unilateral addition of following, instead of requiring a confirmation as with friending. Thanks, Twitter! Now good luck in keeping the service up.

[mrsfance]

Why is this becoming such a big issue that you can only have 2000 followers? Is it really that serious & necessary to have anymore than that?? Gosh people there is more to life than Twitter!!