One of the issues a mature social network brings with it is spam. And though Facebook has rebooted its privacy settings for sharing, it is still largely an opt-out network that creates tons of spam.
The spamification of Facebook extends beyond professional solicitations to unwanted emails created by friends who want you to participate in their activities. While this is well-intended, it just shows that Facebook with its many features has also created many ways to spam your buddies. Here are five common forms of Facebook spam:
1) Group Additions
There’s nothing worse than getting added to a busy Facebook Group, and suddenly having dozens — even hundreds — of emails land in your in box. Worse, Facebook does not allow you to control notifications before getting added to a group. So you can only stop the spam after the fact. Ugh.
2) Event Invites
Yup, a marketer’s favorite, one that most of us are guilty of. But this feature has become meaningless to many power users because they receive so many unwanted event invites. Why bother?
3) Tagged with… Spam!
From professional photographers with watermarked images to marketers highlighting their wares, getting tagged with spam happens all the time. Of course, one man’s garbage is another’s treasure. If at all possible, when doing this, make sure the tagged post/picture/video includes them or is clearly of interest. You can avoid this kind of spam by barring people from tagging you via privacy settings.
4) Places
Oh, the mobile Places feature is going away… Only to be integrated across the entire network regardless of access method. Which means more Places spam. Beware of commenting or worse getting tagged by friends at a Place without having your privacy settings changed to avoid the deluge of email.
5) Friend Invites
These are just annoying. Businesses, obvious pornographers, anonymous handles, whatever. Regardless of motive, it’s downright obnoxious. And if you are conservative about your friending on Facebook, general friend requests from extended network members can be just as annoying. Friends aren’t what they used to be. Unless you say no ;)
What forms of Facebook spam do you find most, ahem, endearing? Applications? Notes? Learn more about Facebook’s Privacy Settings here.