Web 2.0: Turning Spam into Ham

Mmm ham

Websites like Reddit and Twitter often have problems with obvious spam, but we will embark on turning it into ham.

When you browse through trending topics on Twitter, a vast majority of the tweets found will be spam. Random products that have nothing to do with the trending topic, will simply be attached with a trending topic hash tag.

The same concept is done to sites like Facebook, Reddit and Digg. Reddit and Digg have advanced technology to push out spam advertisement posts, but they still relay heavily on the user base to call people out. Reddit users in particular are great and pointing out obvious posts and Digg is not far behind.

This week, as part of an EFM experiment, we will post random pieces that appear to be news articles; however, these will actually be well constructed advertisements.

The Goal – Troll Slaying

Defeating Internet spam by educating social media users.

Methods

Select a random product.

Find an ongoing discussion that could be related to the product.

Additionally create a post with said product.

Relate to people in the post with said product.

Expected Results

There will be two unlisted Web links that push people directly to a post explaining the experiment. The only way to gain access to the post is by being curious enough to click on the link. This link would represent a viral ad, which in turn will be more effective then regular ads placed on a website. Granted the individuals will not have the option to purchase the imaginary product, but this will yield some important social media statistics. The results will later be displayed in a report created by EFM and also help combat viral ads that are placed through social media sites.

Internet spam can be quite a nuisance and bother to social media users. EFM prides itself on only publishing relevant information to any social media site. Additionally, EFM & Play This magazine are non-profit websites and receive no monetary funds for generating traffic to its websites. We feel that knowledge is the key to avoid Spam or troll traps on the Internet. Spam can also lead to harmful viruses being placed on your computer and phishing sites stealing your identity. We pride ourselves on providing the public with free educational assistance on social media or social networking sites.