A Twitterbot is a type of bot that controls a Twitter account through the API of this service. The bot's computer program could tweet, retweet, mark "like", follow, stop following, or send direct messages to other users of the network. The automation of Twitter accounts is controlled by a series of rules that define their appropriate and inappropriate uses. Appropriate uses include publishing useful information, automatically generating interesting or creative content, and automatically responding to users through direct messages. Inappropriate uses include circumventing usage limits, violating users' privacy, or sending spam. characteristics
It may be desirable to identify when a Twitter account is being controlled by a bot. In a 2012 article, Chu et al. proposes the following criteria to recognize if an account could be a bot:
Research has shown that people can take Twitter bots as a credible source of information.
wiki
