Running The Twit Cleaner is great for cutting back on public timeline spam, but what about DMs?

Here are a few tricks that work well:

1. (This is the biggie) TweetLater/SocialOomph

You wouldn’t think it, but the vast majority (90+%) of auto-DMs come from users of this software.

Go here, & follow the instructions. Or, if you can’t be bothered following that link, do this:

  1. Follow @OptMeOut
  2. When @OptMeOut follows you back, it’ll DM you to let you know
  3. Send a DM to @OptMeOut (anything at all, eg “Hey! Stop spamming me, thanks!”)
  4. Unfollow @OptMeOut (totally up to you, just keeps it private)

Voila, no more auto-DMs from Social Oomph.

2. fun140.com

For some reason, fun140 thinks that fun involves DM spamming all your followers. Ok, each to their own, but if you don’t want an endless barrage of quizzes, polls & so on, go here & click “Don’t send me any direct messages.”

Fun140 uses Twitter to verify your identity, ie, prove that you are who you say you are. In other words, it looks like it might be a bit dodgy, but it’s actually completely safe. Yes, I have done this on all my accounts, & trust me, I checked VERY thoroughly.

The delightful thing is that they seem to enjoy ‘forgetting’ your opt out settings every month or so. So don’t be surprised if you need to go back & kick them again.

3. Twables.com

Go here (again, they’ll use Twitter to verify your identity, so click “allow access” when Twitter asks). Click both the “don’t contact me” preferences, & voila, no more spam from twables.

Once you’re done, go to your Twitter connection settings & revoke access.

4. PollPidgeon.com

Go here. Click the big button “Don’t send me any direct messages”, allow access when Twitter asks, then go to your Twitter connection settings & revoke access.

5. blip.fm

For some reason blip hasn’t set up any automated process to do this (can’t think why not). However, they promise that if you email support@blip.fm with the usernames you want removed, they’ll do it. If that doesn’t work, just hassle @blipfm on Twitter.

6. Mafiawars

Similar to blip.fm, you’ll need to send an email to tweetygame@gmail.com with your Twitter usernames.

7. Fauxlowers.com

Go here. It’ll take you straight to Twitter to verify your identity, then back to their site to finish the process. Go back to your Twitter connection settings & revoke access.

This site has been pretty broken recently – the above page errored, & now when you go there, it errors again when saving your request. The good news is, if it’s broken like that, it’s very likely not sending out spam auto DMs. If/when they do get it sorted, the above process will work.

8. PlaySpymaster.com

Go here. It’ll take you to Twitter to verify you account. You will need to have javascript AND cookies enabled for their site in order for it to work (otherwise it’ll go into a silly loop). Once done go back to your Twitter connection settings & revoke access.

Just follow these instructions for any you DMs you get – or all of them in advance if you want to be proactive. I’ll add to this list as I find more ways to cut back on some of the crap on Twitter.

Anything to help Twitter be more awesome.