I’ve Been Tweet-Jacked!

July 30th, 2009 by Elizabeth Beskin | Share Blog

I’ve been getting more and more into Twitter and developing ways to create even more meaningful relationships with the people that follow me. To this end, I have been experimenting with various “Twitter Tools” to make it easier. In order to use these tools I must provide my Twitter log-in and password in order for these tools to access and link to my account. However, not all Twitter tools are created equal: here’s the story of how I got Tweet-Jacked!

Normally, I ignore tweets that come across my screen that sound anything like this: “Get 10,000 Followers in 1 Day!” or “My Secret to Getting 100,000 Followers.” But one day I linked to a tool that was recommended by someone who I have been following on a regular bases. The tweet was very subtle: “How I Built My Following.”

When I got there, I noticed nothing suspicious about the site; it had a hip little bird and the familiar Twitter color scheme, so I signed-up. If it wasn’t for some of my followers letting me know, I wouldn’t have known that soon after repeated tweets were going out to my followers from my account. “Join a Twitter Train and another one: “Get 1,000 Followers a Day.” Of course, I was mortified!

Just like with email, there are marketers out there trying to get you to go to their website, build traffic for them, and attain your username and password. So, by Tweet-Jacking a social networker with a lot of followers and credibility, they can get in front of the people who they have built trust with.

So, what do you do if this happens to you? Change your Twitter password immediately! And, if you use other programs to manage your accounts you need to change the passwords there as well. It’s not hard to do, but it’s a terrible inconvenience.

The hardest part for me to swallow is that some of my followers got spammed because they trust me.

I read a recent post by Deep Sherchan that I found on Twitter called “The 5 Exploitations of Twitter” that really helped me understand this type of spam. (http://ow.ly/ilM4) Deep reports on some of the ways to tell when a tweeter is a Tweet-Jacker:

1. A Tweet that Mixes a Link and @username.

In Twitter, a mention of @username in tweets enable the message to be visible in the replies of @username. This tactic is used to force a user to click on the link, therefore creating high traffic to the website. These Tweet-Jackers do nothing beside tweet redundant links again and again.

2. Flooding the System with Redundant Information
If the kind of messages seen below is flooding your Twitter account, they are definitely spam. Think about it, why should an update be sent in replies when there are so many other ways to do so? This is causing a lot of the “noise” Twitter.

3. Hijacking your Account
This one is the most irritating of all. Has your account been tweeting for you on it’s own some weird marketing jargon? Change your password ASAP!

This is what happened to me and it was Deep Sherchan’s article that helped me stop it.

Words of Advice: Approach Twitter the way you approach your email box. When someone you don’t know wants you to follow a link….don’t do it! Research all Twitter tools before you sign up!

Places to learn more about evil Twitter tools:
http://twitpwn.com/
http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/Twitter-blacklist.png