TweepMe Twitter Application

Edward Lewispageoneresults Twitter Article by Edward Lewis
Administrator for the SEO Consultants Directory

Twitter2009-03-18 - If you were following my Twitter Timeline during the last 48 hours, you would have noticed more than a handful of Tweets related to a new Twitter Application named TweepMe.

The creator of the TweepMe application goes by the username of @bobbr (Bobby Ullery) who felt that Twitter users were in need of his Self Replicating Human Virus. This thing has rocked the Twitter Search Timeline for the past 48 hours since starting its exponential curve.

2009-06-12 Addendum - If you are experiencing challenges removing @bobbr from your Twitter Timeline, try either one of these procedures.

  1. If you've BLOCKED @bobbr and he is still appearing;
    • UNBLOCK
    • Follow
    • Unfollow
    • BLOCK
  2. If you've Unfollowed @bobbr and he is still appearing;
    • Follow
    • Unfollow
    • BLOCK

If neither of the above two procedures correct the challenges with removing the creator (@bobbr) of TweepMe from your Twitter Timeline, I might suggest sending @spam a DM and explain what is happening.

TweepMe Table of Contents

  1. 2009-04-23 - TweepMe User Reviews in Real Time (separate article with updates)
  2. 2009-03-19 - TweepMe Strikes Out!
  3. 2009-03-19 - Aloha Arleen Interviews TweepMe Creator
  4. 2009-03-19 - TweepMe Warned by Twitter
  5. What is TweepMe?
  6. How much does TweepMe cost?
  7. TweepMe Login
  8. TweepMe Registration
  9. What is a Trojan
  10. What is a Virus
  11. TweepMe Herds
  12. TweepMe Fallout
  13. #TweepMe Hash Tag Trending
  14. AutoMagic Tweet During Signup
  15. Message for TweepMe Promoters (e.g. @AlohaArleen)
  16. Important Message for TweepMe Herds
  17. Modern Software Experience - TweepMe (offsite link, excellent review)

TweepMe Strikes Out

2009-03-19 Update - All 3 accounts utilized by @bobbr to promote the TweepMe application have now been Suspended, that's 3 for 3. FAIL!

  1. Strike 1 - @TweepMe (TweepMe Account 1 Suspended 2009-03-16)
  2. Strike 2 - @bobbr (Personal Account Suspended 2009-03-18)
  3. Strike 3 - @Tweep_Me (TweepMe Account 2 Suspended 2009-03-19)

2009-03-27 Update - Twitter have reinstated the @TweepMe and @bobbr accounts. We'll assume that there is a 10 day cooling off period once an account has been suspended and placed under investigation. Twitter appears to be somewhat lenient when it comes to accounts suspended for perceived abuse. Apparently they approve of this auto follow stuff, that's an interesting development.

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Aloha Arleen Aloha Arleen Interviews TweepMe Creator

2009-03-19 Update - The audio interview was released late last night. I listened to all 25 agonizing minutes of it while transcribing and extracting key points I wished to opine on. Since @AlohaArleen deleted my reply to the interview at her Blog, I had to take it to Sphinn for further discussion.

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TweepMe Warned by Twitter

2009-03-19 Update - Just caught these two Tweets between @mat and @al3x who is Twitter's API Lead...


  1. http://twitter.com/mat/status/1357095059

  2. http://twitter.com/al3x/status/1357098546

What is TweepMe?

From the TweepMe website...

TweepMe

TweepMe.com is an opt-in group where we all Follow each other on Twitter. For each new member that joins TweepMe, they automatically follow every member, and every member follows them.

TweepMe is the fastest way to accumulate followers on Twitter. When a new member joins, every other member automatically follows the new member, and the new member follows them back.

So, for example, when TweepMe's 10,000th member joins the community, they will automatically have 9,999 Tweeple following them on Twitter and so will every other TweepMe member!

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How much does TweepMe cost?

TweepMe is giving away free lifetime memberships to the first 5,000 Tweeple who register.

If at ANY point a member no longer wishes to participate, they can end their subscription and KEEP their followers!

What a deal eh? It's a pretty simple process too. There are basically two screens involved for initial signup. The Login to TweepMe area and the Registration area.

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TweepMe Login

Note: No privacy policy, no terms of service, nothing to indicate that this service is to be trusted with your information. Also, there is a GoDaddy Secured Badge on the site which leads to a valid Certificate. Not once did I encounter the https protocol during the entire process of signing up and/or canceling an account.

That means all of us are transmitting our password information unsecurely, no big deal though. We're going to get thousands of Followers, it is worth the risk. NOT! Miscreants know that a majority of the Herd is going to use the same freakin' password they use for their personal banking. And, many of you probably use the same username.

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TweepMe Registration

Do you want to know why Twitter Timelines filled with thousands of TweepMe Hash Tags over the past 48 hours (2009-03-16 to 2009-03-18)? Take a look at the TweepMe Registration form below. How would you perceive this?

I perceive it as having 3 options...

Tweet one of the following and get a free lifetime subscription:

  1. #TweepMe - http://www.tweepme.com - the first 5,000 members receive free lifetime subscriptions

    I can either Tweet the above to my Followers or...

  2. #TweepMe - http://www.tweepme.com - automatically get thousands of twitter followers

    I can Tweet the above to my Followers or...

  3. No Thanks, I don't want to tweet this.

    I can opt-out and not Tweet anything but I won't get my free lifetime subscription. That is what I'd call a bit of deceptive advertising, wouldn't you agree?

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What is a Trojan?

A program that appears legitimate, but performs some illicit activity when it is run.

That is very similar to what TweepMe does if you ask me. The users (the herds of sheep) in this case are the initiator of the Trojan when they provide their username and password to a third party for accessing their Twitter account information. The illicit activity comes in the form of the exponential #TweepMe Hash Tag spam that has filled the Twitter Timeline since the program launched. I stopped counting at 4,000+ #TweepMe references. If you want to keep track, subscribe to this feed...

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=TweepMe

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TweepMe Virus What is a Virus

A computer program that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer.

While TweepMe is not a Virus, its human users make it look like one. Because the TweepMe Herds are clueless Twits, the computer program was smart enough in this case to have the Herd do its bidding. How brilliant is that? A self replicating human computer virus.

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TweepMe Herds

How powerful is the Twitter Herd Concept? Powerful enough to cause users to freely give up their passwords (unsecured) to a third party service that has no privacy policy, no terms of service, nothing in regards to establishing some level of credibility and/or trust. Parts of the Herd (Sheep) even went as far as subscribing via PayPal before that option was removed. I wonder what PayPal's thoughts are on all the refund requests that may be coming in.

Twitter Herd of Sheep

I was fortunate in that I happened to be on Twitter at the time of @bobbr's announcement concerning TweepMe. I immediately set up a #TweepMe feed as that was the Hash Tag he was using to identify the Herd. I've managed to capture all of the registrants who signed up for that service from the moment it launched. I just managed to be in the right place at the right time and set up the feed when I did.

It sure would be fun to publish that username list for all to see. I won't do that. It is available from the TweepMe website if you can scrape the dynamic Tweeps area. What a bunch of losers. Yes, I'm calling each and every one of you Twits a loser, bottom line. You got sucked right into that trap and now many of you are trying to undo what you've done.

Your Followers are pissed at you for recommending the program and many of you may be at risk of having your Twitter accounts suspended, we could only hope so huh? Twitter would be better off without you anyway, LOSERS!

Twitter Owl

Every single last one of you deserve whatever Karma may come your way for trying to take shortcuts of this nature in Social Media. I've been watching my live #TweepMe feed and you dingbats are signing up at about 1-2 every minute as of 2009-03-17 at 20:25 PST. I've seen it go as high as 9 registrations per minute and up to 12 #TweepMe references per minute, including registrations. A truly viral campaign, pun intended.

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TweepMe Fallout

It didn't take long for the buzz to spread about the TweepMe FAIL. Quite a few Social Media Influencers had something to say about the TweepMe application failure.

@mashable posted this Tweet...


http://twitter.com/mashable/status/1338963540

@stephenfry posted this Tweet...


http://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/1345128084

That type of negative press from Social Media Influencers like Pete Cashmore and Stephen Fry could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back as they say.

There appears to be a bit more with this TweepMe application that many have overlooked. The thing is growing exponentially. It is a Twitter Self Replicating Human Virus. If it continues at its current rate, it may even hamper the performance of the Twitter pipelines. Whale Watchers are claiming that TweepMe is behind the recent Fail Whale sightings on Twitter although none of us can be sure of that.

Twitter Fail Whale

I'm almost certain that there is something growing inside Twitter (a virtual cancer) due to the TweepMe application and its simplistic abusive properties. A quick peek into the Twitter Timeline and you can quickly see the sheer number of clueless Twits giving up username and password (unsecured) for their moment of Follower fame.

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#TweepMe Hash Tag Trending

As of 2009-03-17 at 21:00 PST, there are thousands of #TweepMe references in Twitter Search. Not to mention all the sheeple that woke up from their Follow Coma and realized what they did. Twitter should ban all of them, every single last Twitter whore who gave up their username and password to allow #TweepMe to use their account to spam Twitter. Here are the three messages that you can search for to see the sheer ignorance of the Herd in this instance.

  1. TweepMe - http://www.tweepme.com - get thousands of twitter followers automatically #TweepMe

    http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22get+thousands+of+twitter+followers+automatically
    +%23TweepMe%22

  2. TweepMe - http://www.tweepme.com - the first 1,000 members receive free lifetime subscriptions #TweepMe

    http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22the+first+1%2C000+members+receive+free+lifetime+subscriptions
    +%23TweepMe%22

  3. TweepMe - http://www.tweepme.com - the first 5,000 members receive free lifetime subscriptions #TweepMe

    http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22the+first+5%2C000+members+receive+free+lifetime+subscriptions
    +%23TweepMe%22

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AutoMagic Tweet During Signup

Here the creator of TweepMe states that he finally added an opt-out on the AutoMagic Tweet during signup. You know what that means don't you? Those first < 1,000 subscribers did not have the third option to opt out of the promo Tweets (see TweepMe Registration image below).

TweepMe Opt-Out
2009-03-16 at 20:28 http://twitter.com/bobbr/statuses/1340295408

TweepMe Registration

Even if that third option was available, the deceptive presentation of the TweepMe Free Lifetime Subscription options would have surely fooled 99.9% of the Herd. Ya, I'm referring to you folks as Sheep, Sheeple, Herds, Sockpuppets, etc. That is exactly how you acted in this instance, like a freakin' heard of sheep being spooked by wolves and led to slaughter by Twitter Sockpuppets.

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Message for TweepMe Promoters

I have a special message for @AlohaArleen, the Twit sitting over in Hawaii Following 58,948 people with 55,191 Followers as of 2009-03-17. Your interview of the TweepMe Application creator was a bit one sided, don't you think? What exactly is your stake in this? Was it just for the popularity? We're you watching trending hash tags on Twitter and decided to jump on the bandwagon? Based on your Twitter profile, I'd day that was probably the case. Some more exposure, some more Followers, some more notches on the bedpost as they say, eh?

Ever stop and ponder what your 55,191 Followers might think of you for promoting this garbage to them? Did you ever think that this type of automation may come under scrutiny by Twitter in the near future? It surely has by other Social Media communities. It is people like you with large followings who are typically responsible for these things viraling out of control which in turn causes mostly innocent clueless people (the Herd) to have their accounts banned.

@AlohaArleen, maybe you should take a moment out of your busy popularity contest and really take a look at what this TweepMe application does and what the potential challenges may be for the Twitter platform moving forward. You could show a little professional courtesy to your Followers and help them undo what you originally suggested they do. Or, is it too late? You've already made a commitment to TweepMe?

Update: In performing further research, there's a bit of limited history with this @AlohaArleen Twitter Puppeteer. > The battle of AlohaArleen and McAWilliams < It appears that this @AlohaArleen is a prime carrier for the TweepMe Self Replicating Human Virus, it fits her profile.

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Drill Sargeant Important Message for TweepMe Herds

I'll provide both a textual and visual message for the Herd just in case there is a comprehension challenge.

You MUST first cancel your TweepMe Subscription (Step 2) before changing your Twitter Password!

10 Steps for TweepMe Extermination

  1. Step 1 - Login to TweepMe Unsecurely

  2. Step 2 - Cancel Your Free Subscription to TweepMe NOW!

    Note: We've left all the fields blank or white. These fields should already be filled in with your information (in blue print). See the blue Cancel Free Subscription link at the lower left? Click that to Cancel.

    Hopefully you were not dumb enough to initiate a Paid Subscription via your PayPal account? If you were (here's a Mark Harmon, and another, and another), go ahead and click that Cancel Paid Subscription link, it is the larger of the two and is a different shade of blue (see image below).

  3. Step 3 - Change Your Twitter Password NOW!

    Twitter Password

  4. Step 4 - Unfollow all of those that were part of the TweepMe circle jerk, BLOCK them forever

    Twitter Block This Person

  5. Step 5 - Send apologies to those you recommended TweepMe to
    • Step 5A - Tweet about it
  6. Step 6 - Put a sign on your back that reads "Kick Me"
    • Step 6A - Tweet about it
  7. Step 7 - Make a blood promise to never, ever, make a stupid, ignorant, mistake like that again
    • Step 7A - Tweet about it
  8. Step 8 - Perform 100 hours of community service just because you feel guilty
    • Step 8A - Tweet about it
  9. Step 9 - Get on the ground right now and do 100 freakin' push-ups because I said so
    • Step 9A - Tweet about it
  10. Step 10 - Treat Twitter and your Following with respect

Twitter - Do you follow me?Do you follow me on Twitter yet?

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Last modified: 2009-11-07T07:44:33-0800

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