Raw SPAM is gross, Twitter SPAM is grosser. No one wants mounds and mounds of slimy SPAM thrown in your face, especially when you are trying to read and connect on Twitter. But if you know how to control SPAM how to block unwanted SPAM then you can make sure that the only SPAM placed in front of you looks more like this.

My son and his friends learning to make SPAM musubi 

So a while ago we did a huge fast #CAedchat and it was CRAZY. It was trending OVER the Golden Globes. That means there were more people tweeting about #CAedchat than tweeting about the Golden Globes in my tailored trends.

If your Twitter chat is trending, then the SPAMBOTS are sure to follow. What are Spambots? Spambots are programs that grab a trending hashtag and send out spam to that hashtag hoping that you will click on it. Sometimes individuals looking to grab attention like a musician or even an educator promoting themselves will use a trending hashtag to share out something that isn’t related to your chat.

Block a SPAMMER by clicking on the three dots below the tweet

Now you can report spam and even block a single spammer, but in a situation like this it just won’t be enough.

First download TweetDeck from the Chrome Store

Learn more about how to use TweetDeck like a pro

Here are some typical SPAM tweets you would see in a chat:

So do you see the RED arrows? The red arrows are the Twitter trending topics that the spambot is targeting. You need to include one or two of those words in the exclude section of the “tools” part of your TweetDeck column. Now you used to be able to just exclude the word “Followers” but the spambots got smart. Look at the GREEN arrows. Notice that they put a space between every letter of F O L L O W E R S or they spell Followers with a zero instead of an O. No you need to grab the words that are following the hashtags. Words like GoldenGlobes or McConaughey. Just go to the top of your column in TweetDeck:

Click on that weird slider looking icon and it will open the tools for the column. Then click on “Content” and you can exclude any word you want.

Here’s a test. The following images are from a recent chat using #satchatWC click on the image to make it bigger if you can’t see it well. What would YOU pick to put in the exclude section of TweetDeck?

That’s right! Nice work.

PS: I wouldn’t look up that hashtag if I were you.

Lastly, click on the slider bar to close the settings panel and continue chatting. It should take less than a minute. Honestly. The more you do it, the faster you’ll get at it and you’ll see less and less raw SPAM.

You can thank me by giving me a hug when you see me, or a high five- I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable and all. Or… buy me some musubi, and I’ll give YOU the high five.

BONUS learning:

Want to know more about how to maximize your Twitter Chat experience? 

Want to know how to take your use of Twitter to the next level? 

Spam image on the top is reused from an original image taken by Freezelight on Flickr Thanks for allowing your images to be reused.