The territory of the Internet is a separate world with a huge amount of information, its laws and rules, good and bad. As in real life, an important (and one might say, leading) role is played by advertising. Representatives of companies in every possible way try to promote their product so that as many people as possible want to buy it. Everything is used: from targeted advertising on sites and social networks to mass publications of information called spam mailings. Everyone who has a mailbox has often noticed letters that come from somewhere and carry any information that is useless to him. This method of notifying users is illegal, therefore, official representative offices of services, where there is multiple posting of the same type of information, are actively struggling with this. So, what is spam and how to deal with it, you will learn from this article.
What is spam?
As mentioned above, there is a certain type of content that does not carry useful information, but only advertises a product. Mass multiple posting of the same type of information is called spam. In general, there are two concepts of the word. The first, and true, is the distribution of emails to an addressee who has no desire to receive them. The second value, which is now considered the most relevant, is active advertising, the purpose of which is to attract the most attention to the product through mass mailing. As a rule, such messages are like a machine advertising text, the meaning of which is to briefly state the essence of the product and emphasize its advantages. This is done because all users of e-mail have a negative attitude to spam from the very beginning, and it does not linger in the mailboxes for a long time, and the goal of spammers (distributors of this content) is to be able to recognize a malicious email in an interesting way with a catchy heading or another way to get attention.
Where spam is distributed
The first place spam began to appear was email. Initially, it carried the goal of viral advertising, and some users were interested in the product. But not for the reason that they need it, but rather because it was unusual to receive an e-mail message telling about an innovative way of earning money. Over time, the popularity of email began to decline, but to this day a fairly large number of spammers specialize in e-mail newsletters. Today, the mass distribution of the same type of information has become a real scourge of social networks. This is a place where a large number of people gather, more mobile due to age (the audience of social networks is from 16 to 40 years old), and as a result, there is more likelihood of customers interested in the product.
How to deal with e-mail spam
The discontent of users of virtual mailboxes has reached such proportions that the creators of services have a need to solve this problem. Fortunately, this was pretty easy. A so-called spam filter has been created. The principle of its work is to forward letters to the Spam folder from those mailboxes from which bulk mailing is performed. Thus, it was possible to solve the problem of illegal advertising in mail services. However, some spammers still manage to circumvent this protection by sending letters in small batches. But here, the user himself can, by clicking on the garbage marking button, permanently rid himself of “messages” from this address.
Social Media Spam
Multiple posting of the same type of information, repeating in meaning - this is the type of spam that is most common in social networks, forums and in comments. Advertising is the point of such work of those involved in viral distribution. The huge audience of VKontakte, Facebook, and Twitter is potentially solvent, therefore promoting your product here is fertile ground for future sales. For example, in the largest VKontakte group, MDK, the audience is 6 million subscribers, which means that almost everything can be sold here. Private message spam is also common, the effectiveness of which is quite high, because it is usually aimed at an already interested potential client.
Fighting spam on social networks
Despite the active "work" of spammers, the administration is also actively struggling with their activities. Until recently, the promotion of their goods in an illegal way was the only opportunity to sell it, so a service was created, the prerogative of which was targeted advertising. Spam, however, has not become less popular, since one of its main advantages is low cost, or rather zero. Also, when sending messages of the same type to community walls or in dialogs with other users, a captcha protection appears that prevents the actions of spam bots. In case of prolonged publication of identical messages, the account is blocked. Nevertheless, it is not possible to completely eradicate the mass distribution of the same type of information.
How to protect yourself from spam
This question is posed by almost everyone who has at least once encountered malicious emails and realized how annoying this is. To prevent your mailbox from being subjected to a massive spam attack, you should not leave it open in places where other users can see it. Spammers use the so-called parsers to collect the database of emails to which they will be sent. If you find outrageous emails in your inbox, you should immediately mark them as unwanted.
On a social network, it’s almost impossible to protect yourself from spam, because it is everywhere there. However, if you are the owner of the community, you can restrict access to the publication of unauthorized users, remove those who distribute it in the comments in a timely manner.
You can also leave a complaint to a user who makes multiple postings of the same type of information.
Legal spam
Yes, there is one. The desire for cheap advertising of their product from sellers has not disappeared, so they create a subscription e-mail database from users who voluntarily agreed to join it. It looks strange enough, but people who see an attractive offer agree to accept it, leaving only their email address, which is immediately included in the seller’s spam database, and he regularly sends various offers there.
Such mailings are not subject to blocking, since the user himself has consented to receive the information contained in them. However, you can always unsubscribe from the newsletter.
Summarize
Multiple posting of the same type of information is called spam, which is today one of the main mass diseases of the Internet. In order not to get infected with this, it is enough to follow a number of simple rules, namely not to “shine” your e-mail and mark the spam block in a timely manner. This will be enough to protect themselves from the mountains of informational garbage that impedes productive work.