Social Media Trumps SPAM
A recent news report suggested that Social Media is Just a Fad, and while it was once easy to dismiss things like Twitter and Facebook as annoying toys they are worth a second look if you still aren’t a convert.
The upshot is that these “social networking” services are replacements for email, easy to use, and are not annoying unless your friends are also annoying.
The thing to know is that social networking makes a person’s social connections visible, and requires that people have permission in advance before sending messages.
Estimates are that 90% of all Email on the Internet is Spam. If you have a spam problem, then one thing to do is setup a fresh email account, signup for Facebook, and then import all your old email addresses into that system. Use the old address for just buying products and services online.
Bloggers or webmaster can use a Contact Form with CAPTHCA Verification instead of publishing their email address.
In all probability Jay Brodell at AM Costa Rica has an email box that is just chalked full of spam. This is because the entire world has his email address, and the entire world is trying to sell him Viagra, breast enlargements, penis enlargements, or whatever. In fact AM Costa Rica has talked frequently of the Spam Problem in Costa Rica. It’s nice to know that thanks to Internet social networks we can think of unsolicited email as a relic of the last millennium.
Jay Brodell suggests that social networking requires an “investment in time”, and that statement tells us that he really hasn’t yet scratched the surface of Facebook and Twitter. I am more inclined to believe that sifting through the mountain of spam at the news desk is ALOT more time consuming than dealing with a Facebook or Twitter account.
The “real investment in time” is really just a learning curve.
Anyone who really gets social networking is not going back to email, just like anyone who liked email did not go back to writing letters and sending Christmas Cards. Social media is a change in one direction.
The bottom line is that email won’t go away overnight, but the practice of sharing our email addresses with friends is likely to diminish.
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Filed Under: Expat Living
This is all too true. I have been a Facebook participator for two years and find that most of what you say about social networking is on the money. Suffice it to say, Brodell has many other problems with AM Costa Rica that are larger than his e-mail address spam. He needs to start doing real reportage and stop writing "fluff" and carrying too much advertising. Also, he is tiring readers with uninteresting columns by people who repetitively write about personal experiences and are boring to readers. I personally know Brodell's journalistic background and he is now willing to be an underachiever. The advent of Facebook has changed a lot of us who view e-mail as being taken over by the hucksters –ad infinitum.
Cy Bolinger,
Published journalist and former newspaper publisher.
This is all too true. I have been a Facebook participator for two years and find that most of what you say about social networking is on the money. Suffice it to say, Brodell has many other problems with AM Costa Rica that are larger than his e-mail address spam. He needs to start doing real reportage and stop writing "fluff" and carrying too much advertising. Also, he is tiring readers with uninteresting columns by people who repetitively write about personal experiences and are boring to readers. I personally know Brodell's journalistic background and he is now willing to be an underachiever. The advent of Facebook has changed a lot of us who view e-mail as being taken over by the hucksters –ad infinitum.