Sunday, March 13, 2011

New Age Spam – An Internet Marketing Tool

Source: leeanntownsend.com

Comment spam has been a longstanding problem for blogs of all kinds. In search of quick and easy links to their site, some people engage in it themselves, others hire blog commenter’s, but the nature of this tactic doesn't change. According to blog or website owners, it still has the word SPAM written across it. We recently discovered that anyone can accuse anyone of being a spammer. Even comments as simple as “Nice post” followed by a link that would point to their website where they would attempt to sell their products are indicated as SPAMs.

Besides, some genuine loyal and regular clients love placing testimonials or comments to help advertise that particular brand of that product or service they previously used. This type of comments should not be categorized as SPAM. It is just a way of expressing their satisfaction of using that specific brand. In this age, most clients have a tendency to share it with others, be it a bad or good comment. How does one determine if a comment is a SPAM or NOT?

Robert Soloway, the SPAM KING (Source: Wired.com)

Robert Soloway, the SPAM KING, became an instant millionaire with his email spamming methods. Imagine the millionaires it did make for spamming alone during the hay days. Solomon's business grew from sending out e-mails to strangers to distributing spam package software online. These were all before the advanced of spam filters and various spam policies existed on the internet.

The SPAM KING was recently allowed back online after his 3 year sentence in prison. He recently quoted after his release: “I’ve never logged onto Facebook before but I hear it’s nice. In terms of e-mail, Facebook has it built in,” he says. In today's era, Facebook has been a new source for marketing. Nowadays, even small and big companies add hundreds of people whom they do not know on Facebook page, just to promote their product and services. Is this the NEW AGE SPAMMING? How reliable is this Internet Marketing tool? How long before Facebook will block it's users from spamming/ tagging their products online?

There should be specifications in the SPAMMING categorization. What should be considered as SPAM is when society sends out emails or comments, promoting negative products for instance, sexual enhancement products and so forth. We believe unsolicited commercial emails shall not be considered as SPAM. It is a legitimate idea if you get permission from someone before sending it to them.

We believe marketing is a positive thing in society. It lets people know about the products or services that they need or may help them. It helps companies be profitable and successful. It is just spreading of words on what is good. So if the comments are genuine and if companies do target their products to the right consumers, this should be accepted as a form of online marketing instead of SPAMMING.