The following is a conversation about auto-DMs that I overheard last night in the land of make believe.
Demosthenes: Auto-DMs are the bane of Twitter. Every time I follow somebody new, I get a direct message that’s obviously automated. They clog up my direct message in-box.
Fluffy: What do the messages say?
Demosthenes: Some of them are like [...]

So you want to clone Twitter and sell if for millions. But you don’t want to spend a lot of money. What to do?
First, you’ve got to define the required functionality:

Enable people to post trivial bits of information.
Make people feel great about themselves by telling them that lots of people are reading what they post.

Conspicuously [...]