Impersonators Help Twitter, Hurt Its Users

Think of Twitter as another in-box. By following someone on Twitter, you are electing to receive mini Twitter e-mails, known as Tweets, from those new pals. But there is a growing problem: Those new pals may not be who they say they are. Fake users are not a big problem for Twitter - they help the company's growth. But they are a problem for users. I exchange Tweets with about 500 people on Twitter. If one of them sends spam or attempts to sell something, I'll likely un-follow them. No problem. Tweeting with fake users, on the other hand, isn't always so obvious. "There are a lot of frauds on Twitter," musician Wyclef Jean said at the 140 Character Conference in New York last month. His pals call him the "Twitter police," he said, because he has been busy "finding frauds" on Twitter. Jean spoke of celebrities who have had... [read full story]                    

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