@twittersuggests: Twitter's New Recommendation SpamBot Shares NSFW Users

Twitter's New Account Suggesting NSFW Users

Blogger Louis Gray spotted Twitter's @twittersuggests account yesterday, though the experimental account has apparently been around since January. A quick look reveals an account that's posting @replies hundreds of times an hour, algorithmically sending individual users suggestions for Twitter accounts they should follow.

It's a simple solution to a big problem: new users are often left wondering who else to follow after setting up a new account, and the Who to follow page isn't the most inviting or personalized. Unfortunately, ReadWriteWeb and Twitter user Ed Borasky note that some of these automated suggestions aren't safe for work. Similarly, many of the suggested followers -- just browse through some of them here -- just aren't that good. We're seeing suggested users with low tweet counts, "fun and sexy cam models," and accounts that haven't been active in months.

Twitter describes the new account at its help center:

@twittersuggests is an experimental feature that helps you find interesting new accounts to follow by tweeting Who To Follow suggestions, personalized just for you! This feature was created by Twitter, and it looks like a normal Twitter account – it will Tweet recommendations which you can reply to, retweet or mark as favorites.

Apparently, the @twittersuggests account will only suggest you once a week, so your @mentions tab won't be flooded with suggestions. There's currently no way to opt into the experiment, but you can opt out by blocking the @twittersuggests account.

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