It seems as though the Internet walls are covered in spam. No, not the food, rather the endless links that one poses on another, but what is spam?
What Is Spam?
These days spam seems to be everywhere, or what it is that we use to call spam, the question is, in today’s Social Media world, can we still call spam, spam? The original definition of the word according to Wikipedia is:
“E-mail spam, also known as junk e-mail, is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk.”
In other words, repetitive e-mail soliciting someone(s), sometimes in a bulk format to become a part of something, whether it be to join a cause, club, or to simply read what it is they are perhaps trying to sell.
Why are we over doing it?
With today’s rise of Social Networking sites and the easy ability to communicate something to another in real-time, is it still fair to call links, spam? Many people use that term as if it is going out of style, but being apart of Social Media, one must be aware that times are a changing. Twitter for example, has begun a shift of “What are you doing?” to “What’s Happening?” instead of micro-blogging about your day, you are instead sharing what you find is interesting, which most likely is in a form of links.
So why are we over doing it with the spam term? In order for people to know who you are, what you’re about and what it is you like, links are a necessity. If it is not shared, you will simply go unnoticed. Agreed, that repetitive linking too close together is still classified under the original definition, but even those who will disagree with this article has and will continue to mass e-mail to mass parties and share the same link more than once.
Sharing links is not Spamming
We don’t have the time to sit down and type out individual e-mails for everything we want to share, if that was the case, pen and paper would make a comeback. Besides, what would be the point, if you are trying to share the same message? Yes, people will over do it; I have admittedly done it and apologize in advance for when I do it again.
The question is can we get past using the word spam out of context and perhaps realize that the person you think is annoying you, could be just trying to brand themselves, their company or to simply be heard?
We can’t fault them for doing what it is we have done. In Social Media it is important to make sure you get seen, whether it’s a twitpic, a bit.ly or a straight out link, if you don’t share, you get tossed in amongst the shuffle. Do you think the term “spam” needs an update? The point is, the way we communicate today has changed immensely from the days of e-mail or IM’ing, just take a look at Facebook and Twitter or any other Social site that you are on. Is the word spamming being over used or are we simply just sharing?
Erin Ryan is a Social Media Devotee, who is very active on various Social Networking sites. By day, Erin is a freelance image designer for various online stores and is currently a Social Media intern. You can contact her via Twitter http://twitter.com/4u2wear2
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This post was written by...
Erin Ryan – who has written 44 posts on Soshable | Social Media Blog. Erin Ryan is a writer for various blogs and a Social Media Specialist who has a keen understanding of the power of Social Media for business and fervently stays up-to-date with the Social Media Industry. Erin enjoys teaching and helping people and businesses on how to use and connect through Social Media. You can connect with Erin on Twitter.
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I woke up last night thinking about creating various lists on my Twitter account. The thing that concerned me was the spamming perception. I’ve been looking for topics of interest to me that I would like to share and have found many. How do I quickly build my lists without Twitting every five seconds.
I find it annoying when someone comes back with a second Twitt five seconds after the first one. So I’m trying not to do the same thing. I’m new to Twitter but have found it immensely useful already. So for now I’ll control the rate at which my lists grow till I research further. Thanks for your post!
Dear Otto,
Creating Twitter lists on Twitter could actually help you to rid your stream of the “nasty spam”. Just create lists of “friends” or of those you tweet with often, you can even make a list for those in your area, or for those who share interesting information. These are just a few suggestions for you, this way, you can click on that list and see exactly who you want to see instead of waiting for them to come up in your stream. This can also help you weed out any tweople that you don’t interact with or the so-called spammers. If all else fails, just try following other peoples list that are of interest to you. I hope this helped you Otto and thanks for the comment!
Erin Ryan
Well sharing and spamming is different. Sharing is something which you do on different websites on daily basis and spamming is something to share on similar websites on daily basis.
@FacebookAppDevelopers Although I agree, what about sharing something on the same site during different times of the day? Would that be considered spamming?
I totally feel what you’re saying Erin. I think we’re just sharing when we post all these different links. Where it could get into the level of spamming is if say you have twitterfeed tied into your Twitter account and new links to new content is being posted at a pretty fast rate. (I see that A LOT and it’s a big turn off. I and many others don’t want to see just mountains of links. We want to see someone who engages and interacts too.)
I touched on the problem of posting too many links in a post titled “Sorry, I Just Puked All Over My Twitter” and it touched on the concept of “Link Vomit”, a clever yet slightly disgusting word for this problem.
However, most of us just post links to whatever content because we enjoyed it and found it valuable or interesting in some way. That’s the heart of Social Media: Sharing valuable content with people of relevant interest. It’s not the main or only piece of the pie but without it, you’d see activity go down tremendously.
The answer to your question is right there in the definition of “SPAM.” Spam is unsolicited, when users make a choice to follow/friend someone, they have solicited advice/ideas/links from that person.
So like the above have said, its not spamming, its sharing. We follow and friend for a reason, if that reason is lost, there is always the unfollow/remove friend option.
@Mike, I couldn’t have said it better myself! Linking is definitely a part of Social Media, more like THE Media part, but what makes this medium unique is for sure the engaging, hence Social part. @Devon I agree with you too, we do choose who it is we engage with and a continuous choice to unfriend them as well. I just think there is an over usage of the term “spam” since “sharing” content is an important aspect of Social Media. Many people seem to get easily stirred in this day and age of Social Networks when a link is posted. IMO, we need an updated version of the definition of spam, it gets confusing and blurred between crap and content.
I would call it unintended spamming. Unintended on the user’s side. However the “inventors” and promoters of share buttons so have an intention and it is an evil intention. The internet gave Weapons of Mass Distraction in the hands of every fool and the manipulators are taking advantage of this. The same light that should expose them will be used to blind all of us.
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