MySpace Comment Spamming
When we mention spam the first thing that many people think of is the sending of unsolicited email. It's a sad fact that regular Internet users are highly prone to receiving a large amount of spam email on a daily basis and without effective anti spam software and rigorous self protection it can literally become overwhelming. With the increase in popularity of first forums and then blogs it was inevitable that these too would become prone to the spamming advertisers of the world wide web. Comment spam, as it is known, has also crept into the world of MySpace.
What Is Comment Spam?
Comment spam is typified by the receipt of a message that contains advertising, or links to external websites. While this, in itself, does not instantly signify that a post is spam it should be fairly obvious what is and what is not a genuine comment. Most spam comments attempt to thinly veil their blatant advertisement with a comment that at first glance appears natural. However, lurking underneath the friendly and often alluring message is one simple ploy – to persuade you to click the link and visit the site that link directs to.
Matching Spam Advertising To User Profile Interests
Many of the spam comments that users have reported receiving are geared towards specific interests listed in a user's profile. This makes the messages even more appealing to those that do receive them. It may seem like a long and drawn out process to search through tens, hundreds, or even thousands of profiles looking for people with specific interests. The simple truth is that this isn't how spamming works. Software applications have long been available that will crawl the MySpace website and find users according to any number of criteria that the spammer chooses. This can include location, interests, and much more. By targeting the advertising in this way the chances of users clicking the links are much greater.
Spam Comment Software Applications
The spam comment applications will then proceed to post a set number of messages to users on a daily basis. MySpace employs a very vague algorithm that considers the number of messages you post in a day and if that figure is too high then an account may be flagged as being a potential spam account. It was widely believed that this figure was set at around 50 posts a day. As such, spamming software is typically configured to send just under this limit and then wait until the next day before sending a similar amount to similar profiles. The software is cheap, although not only has it become vilified by genuine users it has also become much less effective thanks to some positive changes by MySpace.
Why Do Spammers Spam MySpace?
The simple fact is that spammers spam MySpace pages because it works. Spam is irritating and an annoyance that th evast majority of the web would rather do without but it is still effective. Comment spamming using automated software works out extremely cheap because of the low cost of the application. This means that with very few clicks through to high paying websites, a spammer will make profit. In short then, spammers spam because spamming pays.
Action Against Spammers
There is very little recourse for comment spammers because identifying them does not appear a major priority of the MySpace team. There is an option to report spammers but most would argue that this has little or no effect in getting the accused spammer banned or even investigated for the illegal use of their MySpace account.
MySpace Spam Summary
Spamming is the scourge of many Internet sites. Systems have had to be developed to prevent people from spamming virtually every known type of website including forums, blogs, and now community sites like MySpace. The fact is that comment spamming does pay and it typically costs very little. As such, and as long as this continues, spam will continue to be a prevalent problem on the MySpace website.