Like SEO the question of spam seems to rear its ugly head all too often in social media too. http://howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/

The key mantra seems to be that it is not spam if it is not overt. Apparently the purpose of business is to make money. Therefore if Corporate online promotion is overt, all advertising could be considered spam.

Is it just big business? I got that link from a twitterer that I follow, who then went on to bookmark some sites that were set up by freelancers in her technorati account. If you are watching, I started out as a freelancer – bookmark Weboptimiser!

Then there are the success that spam has brought. Don’t get me wrong, I have never knowingly spammed, but I have sought, encouraged and created links. Here is an article from searchenginewatch on SEO spam, where Eli Feldblum describes how some of the big social media sites have benefited from Spam.

I did not write the comment, but I can see both sides of the story here. I also hate receiving a ton of email every day – literally over 500 emails a day that are just rubbish. That is email Spam. However, my email client does an excellent job of sorting out the wheat from the chaff. So yes I personally suffer from Spam, but I get over it, every day, easily. WordPress blogs (like this one) have software built in as standard to gaurd against blog spam. So if I turn it off, I will get more spam… I can deal with that too!

Apparently Email spam slowed down recently when a major spam ring got busted. Although I am genuinely sorry to hear of people suffering from phishing, it seems ironic that the same thing that helps so many people can cause some to get arrested. Brit humour?

Today’s key point: At the end of the day I think it comes down to personal responsibility coupled with understanding. I literally discuss personal responsibility with my seven year old son. He understands it! If you are aware, cognisant and feel comfortable in the way you manage and consider spam, then all well and good. If you knowingly abuse, then you deserve what you get. This applies everywhere to everything…

I was fascinated to find Eli’s article. On rummaging around I found some other guideline links: check out Yahoo, Altavista and Google webmaster guidelines (all refer to SEO spam). Is PPC spam a new definition for click fraud? I would be interesting in expanding this, not because I want to teach people how to spam, but more to explore the boundaries and help clear up the debate on what is in and what is out…

I recently read Stephen Dennys post Social Capital: Social Media, The Science of Influence, and How to Blow it on Twitter which I think describs the feelings and sensations that bad use of twitter can engender, I like the idea of how to blow it, rather than black and white spam or not spam. I think the concept of opt out is as important as opt-in. Oops, just lost all my followers.

If you are still reading, I recommend this book by Robert b.Cialdini -Influence – the psychology of persuasion… Now as it happens I should be pretty annoyed with Amazon… I ordered the book by following someone elses link and later, received both a soft copy and a hard copy! paid twice, once expensively! However, all is forgiven, I have one copy – the hard copy (the expensive one) for all to see in the office and one – the soft copy – I read at home. Thanks Amazon. Enjoy!

Todays top tip has to be to attend the latest Introductory Internet Marketing event in London on the 21st, in just two weeks time… There you will hear David White our MD revealing a range of top tips in his 1 hour session first thing.

During these tough economic times, it’s easy for companies to dismiss marketing as a disposable expense. However, research shows that companies that continue to market during an economic downturn surge ahead of those that don’t! Despite the turbulence in the financial markets, one things for certain, Internet marketing is still going strong!… so the blurb says – and it is all true.

If you are available and interested to attend, mention Weboptimiser to the good people at Fresh Business Thinking and they have promised to discount the price of attendance – but hurry – they only have about 10 place left – and they have already sold the first 120 seats, so this is an opportunity that is going to disappear soon – see you then!

By the way – we do not get a share of the revenue, we are participating because Fresh Business Thinking are a great team. Hit Me! An Introduction To Internet Marketing

On the 5th of February 2009 we will be meeting with Kevin Eyres, Managing Director, Europe, LinkedIn. Kevin will talk about the LinkedIn successes over the past few years and their plans for the future as well as his opinion on the future development of the social networking environment for both business and leisure. We look forward to reporting on both events…