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Observant regulars might notice the new logo on my homepage, below the streaming (not steaming, mind you) heap of what everyone says about me on twitter. Those who haven’t, click here.

TidyTweet is one of the latest Twitter tools to cross the feed and one of the first in a while that caught my attention. I’ve since implemented and am helping with the beta testing… for a price.

My charge was a brief interview with Michael,  lead developer of TidyTweet at Rockfish Interactive, one of the more progressive agencies I’ve come into contact with. This is what Michael had to say. ~it’s a read but worth it, trust me.

[me] Tell me about TidyTweet.

[Michael] TidyTweet was built to solve a serious problem that we personally encountered at Rockfish Interactive. At Rockfish, we build engaging websites that often include social elements such as Twitter feeds. For example, a company may want to display the last 10 tweets that mention their brand. This is a great way to engage the community and show the buzz around a product or brand. However, doing this occasionally tends to attract spammers who mention a keyword or brand just to get their tweets listed on that page. So, rather than just write an internal tool to solve our problems, we decided to build it as a product to help others in the same position.

TidyTweet is a web-based service designed to help individuals and companies create customized Twitter feeds that they can protect from inappropriate content, spam, and any other content they want to filter. Simply create an account on TidyTweet.com; create your feed using search phrases and filters; grab the RSS feed or embed code; put it on your site and you’re all set. We’re currently in a private beta testing phase and offer the following features:

• Various moderation levels such as requiring manual approval or auto-approving after a delay
• Built-in and custom inappropriate language filters
• Auto-approval of specified users
• Auto-rejection of specified users
• Customized URLs for accounts and feeds
• Multiple output formats such as ATOM, RSS, and an HTML/Javascript widget

What changes and additions are you planning?

Our next couple of features will be focused on more proactively fighting Twitter spam. Our research has shown that a large amount of Twitter spam comes from 2 sources: brand new accounts and/or accounts tweeting using hash tags of 2 or more trending topics.
New Accounts: Once Twitter realizes an account is a spammer, they will shut down the account which means that spam accounts have a limited lifespan. By automatically rejecting new accounts, we will immediately cut down on a large amount of spam.
Multiple Trending Topics: One tactic used by spammers is to include multiple trending topics in their tweets so that anyone viewing those trending topics will see their tweets. For example, “Watch movies for free online #iranElection #Michael Jackson #google”. By eliminating any tweets with multiple trending topics, we’ll be able to eliminate this type of spam.

What are your key markets?

Any users looking to include a Twitter feed on their website will benefit from TidyTweet. Users can range from casual bloggers who want to show their tweets on their blogs to large companies who want to include social elements on their sites. TidyTweet will especially help companies who want social elements but can’t afford to take on the liability of including unfiltered community-driven content on their sites.

How long have you been developing TidyTweet?

The idea for TidyTweet was first tossed around approximately 6 weeks ago. Rockfish has always been an entrepreneurial company and immediately committed to seeing the idea come to life. Six weeks later, we’re in private beta testing.

Have there been any unforeseen challenges to date?

Developing a product around Twitter and specifically Twitter spam has been both exciting and challenging due to the ever-increasing popularity of both. Twitter continues to release new features and is constantly making tweaks to their products, and spammers are constantly finding new ways to use Twitter to push their message. This means that we have to constantly stay on top of changes to Twitter and remain proactive in fighting to eliminate spam.

How might someone get in on the beta test group?

Registration is free, and our signup page can be found at http://tidytweet.com/BetaSignup.aspx. We are approving a limited number of people for the beta test group on a first come, first serve basis. However, someone who feels like they would make a good candidate for beta testing and hasn’t already been approved can send a tweet to @tidytweet mentioning this blog entry, and we’ll do the best we can to make an exception.

So there’s the long and short on TidyTweet. Even as we work through the few bugs I’ve hit, I’m supremely impressed with the usability of the tool and recommend it across the board. Look for updates from Michael and myself on twitter and don’t hesitate to contact them directly with any specific questions you might have. Here are all the ways you can get in touch with TidyTweet.

Homepage: http://tidytweet.com
Email Support: tidytweet@rockfishinteractive.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tidytweet
Feedback forum: http://tidytweet.uservoice.com
Rockfish Interactive: http://rockfishinteractive.com

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