I am dismayed at the number of Twitter users who are openly using my favorite networking implement as a spamming platform. They are seemingly unrepentant and unapologetic. They can’t possibly be profiting from it: I know I’m not alone that I will NEVER retweet a spam tweet. I will NEVER follow an obvious spammer.

There have been many blog posts recently about the events over at Twitter: How #FollowFriday has degenerated into a spam exercise.

I have noticed a steep decline in the general quality of new users following me, with tweets like:

Hello Please Check by Free Earnings report ! Make money online with me

and

Get start in online business – sell more products and get rich . Check my free raport about it

The problem is, these people are misguidedly under the impression that they are engaged in Social Media Marketing. They are nothing but spammers, pure and simple.

Social media marketing is all about building relationships and trust. It’s all about providing useful information and assistance to your network: in short it’s about making the Internet a better place to be–not creating a cyber-hell on earth.

For Heaven’s sake: Next time you go to tweet something that most of us will regard as spam, stop and think. Would you want to receive 100 tweets just like it? If not you probably need to stop tweeting, stop blogging and read. Read the blogs and tweets of people like Lee Odden, Darren Rowse, Andy Beal, and David Risley, to grab just a handful of good Twitter people off my timeline.

What can we all do to keep Twitter and the Internet spam-free? Don’t encourage spammers. Don’t follow them, don’t engage with them, and if they bother you, block them and tell your timelines why you’re blocking them. Be loud about it.