Social media influencers busted as Twitter Changes Tweetdeck

With these changes social media ‘influencers’ must change tact to survive

“One of the most violations we see is the use of multiple accounts and Twitter developer platform to attempt to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain tweets,” read a statement from Twitter.

Before the changes, influencers could use multiple accounts to send out similar or different tweets at a go using the Tweetdeck platform. With the changes, one cannot send more than one tweet at a go and one is also incapable of retweeting a tweet by use of more than two accounts like it was before.

TweetDeck previously allowed a user to craft a single tweet and simultaneously send it out to multiple accounts— some would have more than 100 accounts— just at the click of a button.

This would give the underlined subject a higher chance of trending on Twitter

With these changes, it will be very difficult for ‘influencers’ who often used this method to trend topics on Twitter and subsequently earn from social media marketing.

Put differently, moving forward, a user will have to select each of their account to either tweet, retweet like or follow at a time, making it an arduous task for ‘influencers’ to push content.

On the upper hand, it now means that conversations and trends on Twitter should take on a more subtle, spam-free direction.

Twitter has made drastic changes on its back end with aim of taming rogue tweeps involved in malicious mass tweeting aimed at trending tweets.

Twitter is doing this to stop “malicious activity” from accounts  probably powered by automated ‘bots’.

See full story as reported by AFP:

Twitter announced Wednesday a crackdown on accounts powered by software “bots” which can artificially amplify a person or cause and which have been accused of manipulating the social network during the 2016 US election.

The San Francisco messaging platform said the move was intended to rid the service of spam-spewing automated accounts, and not aimed at people using the service according to the rules.

‘BOTS’

“These changes are an important step in ensuring we stay ahead of malicious activity targeting the crucial conversations taking place on Twitter — including elections in the United States and around the world,” Twitter developer policy lead Yoel Roth said in a blog post.

The move was the latest by Twitter to enforce rules aimed at curbing disinformation, propaganda and provocation.

Since the 2016 election, Twitter and others discovered how “bots” had been used to sow political divisions and spread hoaxes.

“One of the most common spam violations we see is the use of multiple accounts and the Twitter developer platform to attempt to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain tweets,” Roth wrote.

“To be clear: Twitter prohibits any attempt to use automation for the purposes of posting or disseminating spam, and such behaviour may result in enforcement action.”

BULK

Posting duplicative content, replies, or mentions from an array of accounts one controls, by hand or by bot, is forbidden, according to Twitter.

“Bulk, aggressive, or very high-volume automated retweeting” is also banned, along with using multiple accounts to perform automated actions at the service such as following people, Roth said.

A sole exception to the rule was applications designed to broadcast weather, emergency or other public service type announcements, according to Twitter.

Developers were given until March 23 to bring applications into compliance with the tightened rules or risk suspension.

Keeping Twitter safe and free from spam is a top priority for us,” a Twitter spokesperson said.

FAKES

“Today’s update to TweetDeck and our developer platform is an important change to ensure we stay ahead of malicious activity targeting conversations on Twitter.”

The crackdown is part of an effort to weed out automated and fake accounts, a move which rankled some conservative personalities.

Some users woke on Wednesday to find a sharp drop in followers,  prompting a series of hashtags on the platform such as #TwitterLockOut and #TwitterPurge.

The cause was an ongoing effort to “identify suspicious account behaviours that indicate automated activity” or other policy violations, a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.

And, despite conspiracy theories that quickly gained traction at Twitter, the service denied any political bias.

“Twitter’s tools are apolitical,” the spokesperson said.

US POLL

“This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone.”

Twitter last month said the number of Russia-linked accounts firing off tweets evidently aimed at the US election in 2016 was more widespread than initially determined.

An indictment issued this week by US special counsel Robert Mueller, investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, named the Internet Research Agency, described as a bot and disinformation operation which sought to sow divisions in American society using social media.

Summary of  changes effected  by Twitter:

• Do not (and do not allow your users to) simultaneously perform actions such as Likes, Retweets, or follows from multiple accounts.For example, your service should not permit a user to select several accounts they control to follow a specified account.

• The use of any form of automation (including scheduling) to post identical or substantially similar content, or to perform actions such as Likes or Retweets, across many accounts that have authorized your app (whether or not you created or directly control those accounts) is not permitted.For example, applications that coordinate activity across multiple accounts to simultaneously post Tweets with a specific hashtag (e.g. in an attempt to cause that topic to trend) are prohibited.

• While we continue to permit cross-posting outside information (such as weather alerts or RSS feeds) to Twitter using automation, you should only post this content to one account you control.

• As a sole exception to this rule, applications that broadcast or share weather, emergency, or other public service announcements of broad community interest (for example, earthquake or tsunami alerts) are permitted to post this content across multiple accounts who have authorized an app.

• If your app or service includes features which allow users to perform simultaneous actions across multiple accounts, you should make changes to bring it into compliance with this policy by March 23, 2018. Failure to comply with these rules could result in enforcement action, up to and including the suspension of associated applications and accounts.

• Posting duplicative or substantially similar content, replies, or mentions over multiple accounts you control, or creating duplicate or substantially similar accounts, with or without the use of automation, is never allowed.

• Posting multiple updates (on a single account or across multiple accounts you control) to a trending or popular topic (for instance, through the use of a specific hashtag) with an intent to subvert or manipulate the topic, or to artificially inflate the prominence of a hashtag or topic, is never allowed.