Tag Archives: spam

Sep30

A spam by any other name

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A spam by any other name

First let me say that I do acknowledge, that Spam, like Beauty – is in the eye of the beholder.

I am “linked” to many self-proclaimed “Open Networkers” with hundreds and thousands of contacts – from whom I receive emails frequently – advertising their areas of expertise, their classes, their events.  I view these as celebratory announcements, because I view receiving these as part of opting in to an Open Network.

I do not report them as spam if they are from someone I am connected to  – if it is something I don’t want to read I simply delete it.  I receive upwards to 500 emails daily in my various accounts, and while I would love to have less, I have found some gems hidden among the unsolicited emails that I would not have had exposure to otherwise.

An Open Networker that  I am connected to recently reported my email to them announcing the launch of the application I have been working on, as spam.   Again, I understand that it is in the eye of the beholder, I would have liked the benefit of the doubt, though.

Many other folks who were not sure if the email was really from me, emailed me and asked – which is probably because I used an html template for my email – and I was happy to hear from them, and know they were being cautious.

But this does illustrate one of the challenges with “Open Networking” – there is an implied consent when you join an open networking tool or community, that you can contact each other.  If this is not the case, why be open?  The answer is that the Open Networker wants a wide reach… but then, if you don’t want a zillion emails you have another challenge – which is how to deal with them all.

Which brings us back to spam.   If you think you have been spammed, and it is someone who tells you that you are connected in some group or another – check first, and if you are connected – grant them the benefit of the doubt, or remove them from your connections and ask them to do so as well.

Spam is serious business, none of us want to do it – and none of us want to be financially dinged by being blacklisted at the ISPs either, especially when we are reaching out to people we thought we could reach out to ….

I doubt if the gentleman who decided my email was spam will read this, although I have read all the emails he has sent to me… and I have now removed him from my connections on Linkedin, and asked him to remove me.   Hopefully now that it is formal, I will not receive any more from him either… but if I do, I will simply delete them.

Aug8

Social Network Overload

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Social Network Overload

I think I have officially crossed the line of sanity with regards to Social Networking Sites.  I need a “Social Network Secretary” just to keep track of them all.  And I know I am not making best use of them – I’m not “working” them like the master networkers do.

If you think I am exaggerating here is a partial list of the sites I belong to, who are either self-proclaimed Social Networking Sites or have evolved in that direction:

  1. Plaxo
  2. Linkedin (and several subgroups of Linkedin)
  3. Brightfuse
  4. Myspace
  5. Facebook
  6. Brijj
  7. Ning (and several subgroups of Ning)
  8. Salesconx
  9. TooStep
  10. Konnects
  11. Xing
  12. Jigsaw
  13. GoodTree
  14. YourCause

I am drowning in emails asking for connections, adds, or to help find someone to fill an open job req.  And I am overloaded.  I love the concept, I do.  I just need to figure out how to manage it all.  And to that end, I invite suggestions and comments.

One must remember that even though they use the word “Social” in their descriptions and often have a lot of “Social” activity – the sites were meant to fill a functional need.  The tools are not universally compatible.  They allow you to plunder your MS Outlook contact list, but are not very easily downloaded back to that list (for example I fried the motherboard of my favorite laptop last winter and would have greatly benefited from being able to recreate my contact list on my new laptop). Some of the lists give you a certain amount of privacy, others let it all hang out – so to speak.

The members are as varied as the applications – some are avid “collectors” of connections – some do not respond to polite inquiry of any kind. 

At some point I expect that there will be a collapse of the sites, and one or two major players will emerge.  But I don’t think it will be the big guys that are in the ring right now… somewhere someone with a fresh approach and the ability to accommodate a variety of true networking needs will rise to the occasion and blow the others out of the water.

In the meantime, I am grateful for my rolodex – which is how I still keep track of my website memberships and passwords even in this electronic age.  I will continue to slog through the sites, looking for my Xanadu of networking.

ADDENDUM: 8/26/08 – http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/steering-between-unsocial-networks-and-social-spam/ This is the other big issue with Social Networking…well, one of the other issues.