We all loathe it. Spam. Our grace-o-meter when it comes to spam is little to zilch.  From ads to nude pics and everything in between, we are bombarded with it. Although many platforms offer ways in which to block or report a spammer, they still tend to make their way into our streams and inbox. But what about OUR spam? Do you spam? Do I spam? Are we opening ourselves up to a ton of spam? Let’s examine some of this.

Yes. Even YOU have probably spammed.

Not that this is something to be proud of, you may have been a spammer in the past or maybe you’re even a current one.  I am guilty as charged with some of these offenses:

1. Follow Me Me Me! There is a fine line between trying to get out there and be known and shouting from the mountaintops and every post in between to follow you. When you do that, I don’t want to follow you. I want to run. It makes me question your social skills. It makes me feel like I will be a number and not a name. If I am genuinely interested in your product, I will follow you if the content is helpful & meaningful. Heck, you can even throw in that pic of the cat that you love so much. But please don’t “spam beg”.

2. You Simply Must See Everything I See! 

Actually, no. I don’t need to have status updates every three minutes of what picture you just snapped. A trickle here and there is fine, but as much as I might like you, I don’t choose to live vicariously through you.

3. Chain of Fools. 

“Click like if you think this beaver is funny” “Share this or else!” “Hit like if you’ve remember this TV show”.  Seriously. Can’t I just be a grown woman who picks and chooses what she shares, when she shares it, and how she shares it? I don’t like being told what, when and how to click or share. Please don’t put all of us through that, or you might get some serious “unfollows” in your future.

Are You Opening Yourself Up To Spam? You Betcha!

By simply joining all of these platforms, there is spam to be encountered for sure. But there are some things you can do to not be an enormous target. These are just ones that I am aware of. I would love to hear your thoughts as well.

1. Know Your Hashtags!

Just because you see someone that you are friends with use a hashtag, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Tags anytime about #like #likeme #follow #followme and the like will certainly bring plenty of folks your way! But they may not be the friends or clientele you had in mind, so be careful. And take great care when you hashtag a descriptive word that has more than one meaning. You will instantly have people who will follow you based on that hashtag – but do you really want someone following you because you talked about #,salami bowling #ball or #trash? I think not. So don’t hashtag just because you can. Discriminate your hashtag based on what and who you are targeting as your audience or topics that you genuinely want to connect on.

2.I Feel Guilty If I Don’t Follow Back – They Might Get Mad At Me 

Please don’t tell me you go there. If you let your fear of those seeking to follow you dictate YOUR space, YOUR account and YOUR actions, you might want to re-think social media. YOU steer this ship. Remember that. There is no shame in blocking or reporting spam – EVER!  Don’t follow strangers because you’re worried you might hurt their feelings! *slaps forehead*

3.Don’t Open That Link!

Hopefully we’ve all learned how to recognize email spam by now. Tips about not opening unfamiliar emails with links, or emails from your friends that have a strange title. The same rings true in Twitter and Facebook. Use caution before clicking into things, even from those you consider social media savvy, as they may contain spam or malware.

What If I Truly Like The Person Who’s Spamming Me?

Okay. So your friend is great in many areas. But there’s this one little problem. They spam. A lot . Like their parents-fed-them-to-much-of-it-as-a-child kind of SPAM. In every other area of  your relationship with them, they seem cool and you enjoy interacting. But when it comes to their social media platforms, they SPAM. What do you do?

1. Talk It Out With Them

Listen. The best thing would be (if you are truly close IRL and in person) to actually talk to your friend. Let them know what’s up. That as much as you love them, they are on overload with their messaging. If you feel that would squander their self-expression, or if you’re just plain afraid it would start the big “D” word (drama), then use the tools you have at your fingertips!

2. Use Those Faithful Settings

Particularly on Facebook (which is more likely where you would receive such spam from a friend), you may go into the settings on their page and choose how much (or little) of a person’s updates that you wish to receive. Utilize this tool. If your friend asks you why you never seem to comment or like their postings, see #1 above.

Finally, please don’t just ignore spam, please help us all by clicking on a few simple buttons to report spambots and other annoyances that clearly aren’t in social media to be “social”.  Let me know your spam encounters, how you have dealt with a friend’s spam, and other spam-related comments. Just don’t spam my post.