As the amount of followers you have on Twitter increases, you might find yourself dealing with an increase in Twitter spam. Twitter spam derives from people who take advantage of you following them by sending you unwanted direct messages or merely by following you with the express intent of upping their follower count (meaning, they have no sincere interest in your tweets).

What defines Twitter spam, however, varies from person to person. By politely following someone back, for instance, you essentially opt-in to receiving direct messages from them. While your token of goodwill might be broken by people sending you terrible marketing-minded pitches, they can argue you asked for it.

The Twitter Bible

Whether you're new to Twitter or trying to make better use of it, CIO.com's Twitter Bible has everything you need. Here's expert advice on how to get started, practice good etiquette, network and job hunt, search smart and stay organized with the social networking service. You'll also find analysis on how to better engage your followers, use Twitter to reach customers, and go mobile with Twitter.

If you feel you have been spammed, you can report it to Twitter at the @spam account, which monitors these types of activities. Before you report anyone, however, we suggest you read these tips from our experts about managing Twitter spam:

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1. Vet a Follower Before You Follow Back

You can save yourself a lot of headaches by vetting another user's Twitter profile before you decide to follow that person back. On many Twitter profiles, users will provide a link for "why they use Twitter." According to social media experts, you should give a person credit for providing full disclosure that the account is intended to announce promotions or be product-centric. Look at a couple days worth of the person's tweets to see if following back makes sense for you.

"While Twitter can do things to prevent spam, a lot of it falls on you as a user," says Caroline Dangson ( @carolinedangson), a IDC analyst who researches social media. "The human element of moderating it will help you figure out who might be a spammer."