Social Media Spam

Social media optimization is all the rage in the SEO world. Social networking and media sites are a very useful tool for the average SEO specialist. Social websites allow you to build back links, create and encourage your website popularity and bring in tons of new traffic. In fact if performed well one could probably make their website based upon link bait alone. Some of the more notable websites like Digg, News vine and Reddit have been used since their inception. And with tons of new social sites popping up, there is not shortage of un-gamed websites. Digg amongst other website has become difficult to manipulate. While the website as a whole is manipulated by the Digg mafia, regular users would have to spend limitless amounts of time in order to land a first page story on Digg. In many ways the traffic is not worth the effort.

One of the more recent booms in the social scene is the growing popularity of Facebook. Myspace was the fore father of social website. Before websites like Digg were popular Myspace was the place to be. Given its popularity it’s no surprise that Myspace became the target of SEO’s, Internet marketers and spammers alike. There were legitimate opportunities for using Myspace as a method of advertising and reputation management, however as it became popular the abuses rose. Anyone who is familiar with Myspace will tell you that spam is a huge problem now. Fake accounts, fake messages, and persistent viruses have become so prevalent on Myspace that spam is accepted. But like every Gold Rush, people see new opportunities and less spam on Facebook. It took awhile to pickup speed but now everyone’s shedding their Myspace and trying out their new Facebook profile.

With the rise of social website, gaming, trading and spamming have all become all too prevalent. In fact if you look hard enough you can see the blatant examples of spamming and social media manipulations. For example on the Digital Point forum you can see people exchanging Stumbles, Bookmarks, Diggs and so on.

While there are benefits to this type of “exchange” the impact on the overall SEO society is detrimental at best. It is hard to imagine that there are search engine professionals that do not try to achieve the highest level of respect, integrity and professionalism. SEO professionals must band together and avoid spammy or questionable practices to ensure that we are taken seriously and that our field is not looked down upon.

Social Media Spam - To learn more about this author, visit William Atkin's Website.

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