« Does Facebook Have the Right Priorities?
Get A Wiki on Facebook »

Facebook Gets Its Share of Spam

Posted by Nick O'Neill on October 15th, 2007 8:00 AM

Spam Ad ScreenshotOver the weekend, I questioned if applications were Facebook’s version of spam. Last night, I was browsing around Facebook and came upon the ad that you see on the left. The ad is for the opportunity to “Work at Home and Make $200+ per Day.” Not a bad offer although it doesn’t seem to pertain to the picture that is directly to the right of the job description. The person posting the advertisement had also posted links on the Washington, D.C. network wall. Her profile was interesting as well (I have posted a screenshot below).

So, it looks like an number of more aggressive spam techniques are now being used on Facebook. The real question is if they are sending spam messages. I haven’t received any spam messages yet, have you? Do you think Facebook will experience the same fate as MySpace, who experienced severe spam problems?

Spam Profile Screenshot

Posted in General
Digg Icon Digg this article Del.icio.us Icon Save to del.icio.us Share Share on Facebook

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 6 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    It hasn't been nearly as bad so far. But I can't help but think that, where there's money to be made, spammers will find out how to abuse it.
    • ^
    • v
    For me, it's not just spam messages or spam profiles that could start affecting the 'cleanliness' of Facebook. I feel that newsfeed items about applications and applications requests are just as irritating as any spam.
    When the enslaught of applications began, what first struck me was how they completely detracted from that was the initial attraction of Facebook - seeing snippet after snippet of news about what your friends were doing (who they'd made friends with, what their status was and what photos they'd been tagged in, etc). I love gossip, so a newsfeed full of these details was heaven for me. When the newsfeed started getting filled up with 'news' about applications, the gossip-worthy nature of the site became diluted. I'm very anti-applications and it's something I've mentioned a few times in my blog here - http://somethingclosetonothing.blogspot.com/
    • ^
    • v
    Facebook is great..but by the looks of it..i give about 6 months..can you imagine by April next year where FB will be? I see a lot more spam and a lot of myspace type of thing. I already trying to look else where. But I did enjoy FB though.
    • ^
    • v
    As much as it is a cumbersome and challenging task - I think FB needs to review the ads and have some sort of community thumbs up or thumbs down system. I do not want some creepy Lolita image like the one you posted, (pink headband is pretty bad), staring back at me when I am online. I saw that ad last week and reported it to FB and they said they would look into it. I would like to hear what other readers think - maybe I am the one missing the point.
    • ^
    • v
    I put a bunch of listings up on the marketplace (tv, car, etc.)...and I was surprised when I got a ton of spam responses to my listings. The messages were all people who wanted you to follow up with them on a yahoo account, most likely because they don't have a 'real' facebook account. I reported them to Facebook, but was very dissapointed that there were 'fake' people on Facebook, like what happened with MySpace. I think that Facebook should try to do a better job at verifying identity before opening an account up. That will prevent a lot of the spammers from getting onto the system.
    • ^
    • v
    Hi, my 2 cents on the "spam" issue. I guess it is how you define it, but generally I define spam as unsolicited communications that I don't want!

    Bit harsh, but there you go! :-)

    I joined a group on Facebook which was relevent to something in my personal life (it was do to with a particular bar that I used to frequent), and then found out that the creator of the group was sending regular messages to the members of the group about all kinds of events and bar-nights etc in London ... NOT related to the bar in question.

    This got right up my nose, I put a posting on the Wall asking her to stop sending marketing messages to the group ... to which a few days later I got a snotty email ...

    "This is my group, and I will do as I please!".

    Is this Facebook Spam? I think so!

    (PS. I have now left that group!)

Trackbacks

blog comments powered by Disqus
Social Media - Monetize Social Media - Market Social Media - Manage Social Media