Sharing vs. Spamming

Best Practices (Part 8)

Have you ever stopped following a page or feed because you felt the information shared wasn't of the best quality? It's a common practice, one many of us think about on a frequent basis. How do you keep your own fans and connections from contemplating doing the same with you? One simple and effective way to ensure you keep your followers happy, thus keeping your followers, is knowing the difference between sharing and spamming.

There's a lot more to spam than Viagra ads and large amounts of money left to you by kings and other types of distant foreign leaders.

When you share a link or other information without verifying it is actually valid and valuable, that's spam. While sometimes simply annoying, sharing this kind of information can lead to the transmission of viruses and malware. Does something sound too good to be true? It probably is. Does something sound off-base and untrue, like maybe it's a scam? Before passing it on check www.snopes.com. More often than not something that sounds "scammy" is a scam or a hoax. Passing it on as truth is spamming.

Putting out a monthly newsletter that you're sure is full of relevant and interesting information? Great. Did you allow everyone to opt-in to your mailing list? No? That's a shame. Adding someone to a mailing list without their knowledge is definitely considered spamming. And if they ask to be removed, please ensure you do so right away. Most email newsletter software allows people to opt-out directly from the sent message. It's a best practice to make it easy for a subscriber to opt-out.

Want to share your new Facebook page with all of your family, friends, co-workers and clients? That's great. But there's a proper way to do it. Sharing or posting your new page directly on their wall without permission is like putting a sign in their front yard. That's their digital real estate. Get permission before posting. Better yet, share the new page in a private message with details why the individual might like the page.

We'll continue the discussion of spam with a look at embedded links and other hacks tomorrow.