Email spam is the thing of the past as most spammers today are targeting social media networks. Spam is a huge bother, one can whittle away several hours filtering through unwanted messages.
But this is not the only drawback with spam messages. Spam, even the type cluttered on your social media account, can jeopardize the safety of your system and online identity. So everyone should take adequate security measures to protect themselves from this onslaught. A few helpful pointers are given below.
1. Advertising notifications
Almost every social networking site has activist campaigns and advertising movements that send out memos to people. The problem arises when they send out too many messages. There are several accounts on twitter which post only marketing messages anticipating that people searching for information will click on them. They do not have followers nor do they follow anyone else. People should subscribe to such accounts watchfully. The advertising messages on facebook are placed alongside quizzes.
2. Updates from applications
Game applications on facebook send out a lot of updates. You receive these updates from in your friends list, who have subscribed to such apps. A good way to stay away from these is to hide applications or block their feeds. Also, you should research an application thoroughly before subscribing to it. Reset the “apps and websites” section in facebook privacy settings by removing entries that look distrustful.
3. Make secure choices
Many links and posts on facebook and twitter have either videos embedded or promise rebates. So, one should not click on each and every link they come across. Be chary of short links with text alongside and report fraudulent accounts to facebook. Also, watch out for applications that request access to your profile.
4. Policies meted out by networks
Social media sites are coming out with strategies which will help to limit the flood of wires being sent out to people. Google+ has decided to disallow dead celebrity spokespeople from opening accounts on their site. Many tools like Captcha are being used to identify the person or brand operating an account. The anti spam strategies adopted by facebook and twitter target suspicious activities on their sites, such as accounts that send out messages to people not on their friends list.
5. User segmentation
This is a useful tactic used by marketers which prevents messages from turning spam. Segregating profiles based on gender, age, location and other characteristics comes in handy. All marketing communication should be then sent out keeping people’s interests and preferences in mind.
6. Hard selling by marketers
Marketers should refine their advertising propaganda on social network sites. They should avoid pushing products aggressively and opt for a softer approach with friendly dialogues. Holding open and informative discussions with audiences or using statistics and hosting plans to target them are a good idea.
Spam is a nuisance and frustrates people enormously. But, apart from this, there are many other malicious drawbacks of spam. It can threaten your online identity and transfer bugs to your system. Hence, taking adequate precautionary measures is an essential.
