A Barracuda Networks study, cited in this Los Angeles Times Technology blogpost, says a “True Twitter User” is one who has “at least 10 followers, follows 10 people, and has updated their status with at least 10 tweets.” So what give Barracuda the right to define who or what is true?
Barracuda Networks is a security, networking, and storage solutions company that has a new security research portal called Barracuda Labs. It’s an interesting site, though a little scary. “Scammers Cashing In,” “Be Careful Clicking,” and “Fake Outlook Updates” are some recent headlines. Their recent Twitter study was prompted by their desire, they say, to take a close loose at what is “one of the Web’s fastest growing social networks.” Their bottom line on the Twitter study: “users are more active on Twitter; more users joined Twitter in 2009 following a massive influx of celebrities to the site; and sure enough, the criminals followed the users in a forceful way causing the overall Twitter Crime Rate to spike.” So, be careful out there while enjoying all the rest of the non-criminal tweeters.
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