This is simply an amazing bit of customer hate, as reported by [Matthew ‘The Panzer’ Panzarino at TechCrunch.][1] As I mentioned, Twitter is now rolling out the ability to DM people that don’t follow you. This, sounds like it is an unrelated problem, but proves my point that Twitter is *going* to have a DM Spam problem. What arose last night is a bunch of “hacked” accounts sending spam via DMs containing URLs.
Any smart service would have taken user reports and been all over this like white on delicious steamed sushi rice, but according to The Panzer, this is how it played out:
> What we’re hearing is that the rise in DM spam ended up garnering attention inside Twitter up to the point where an executive inside Twitter’s C-suite got DM spammed. Hence the abrupt ban on URLs inside DMs until the issue can be sorted out.
To many that seems reasonable. But here’s how I read this: Twitter wasn’t overly concerned about DM spam in the higher ups, until one of the higher ups received the spam. Then they squashed it by banning URLs in DMs. That’s not really a company working in the user best interest, but rather self-serving. It makes you wonder: if that executive hadn’t been spammed, would Twitter have done anything?
“Ok, Ben, but you are reaching here.”
Am I?
> The inconsistencies that we noticed with regards to the sending and receiving of URLs is due to the fact that Verified users and advertisers are exempted from the ban on sending links in DMs. This would impede, of course, the efforts of marketers using Twitter’s legitimate advertising platform to send DMs {…}
It makes sense to allow verified users to keep sending them, but advertisers? That’s just self-serving — advertisers (granted non-paying ones) were the ones sending the spam. Here’s what we have learned (or been reminded of):
1. Twitter addresses the problems that bug them first.
2. While “average” users will suffer from sweeping changes, verified “celebrities” and *braaaaands* won’t suffer, ever. EVAR.
Enjoy that.
[1]: http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/17/twitters-theoretically-temporary-url-messaging-ban-due-to-massive-wave-of-dm-spam/
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