A Few Words About Spam

I'm starting to get more complaints about some TBEX members spamming others on the site. So I thought I'd take a moment to clarify what we consider to be spam.

Some people wouldn't call a vague group email blast to hundreds of friends on the site "spam". But I do. In fact, that's why we put a little warning on the TBEX Terms page that reads:

"We strongly encourage members to engage in lively discussions, but always be courteous to the other users. We also encourage users to be active on the site to promote themselves and their work. However, any user who broadcasts messages to other users, or posts only links to their own work without contributing to the community will be privately encouraged by site administrators to change their strategy. Repeat offenders may be blocked at the sole discretion of TBEX site administrators."

And it looks like a few of you will be getting an email from me soon about rethinking your strategy...

We're all proud of our own work and I can understand why some of you would be really excited to share it with others. And I would never want to dash anyone's enthusiasm. But indiscriminately (and impersonally) emailing a list of people with a link is not only not cool, it wins you no friends or fans. In fact, that remains true not only on TBEX, but throughout internet land. If you're new to blogging (or not new, but haven't gotten great results yet), consider that some really great advice.

Just to be absolutely clear, I've written some sample private messages below. Two are what I'd consider to be yucky, icky, no-good, very-bad spam. The others are totally appropriate.

EMAIL 1 -- Recipients: 49 TBEX friends
"Hi Guys,
Just thought you'd like to check out this brand new blog post of mine, I think you're gonna love it. Would really appreciate if you'd tweet, stumble, and blog about it!
http://www.myawesomenewblogpost.com
xo,
Cheezy Spam Emailer #1


EMAIL 2 -- Recipient: "John Doe"
Subject: collaboration
"Hi John,
I noticed your helpful input in the TBEX Podcasters Group. Then I read on your profile that your blog focuses on budget travel. That's something I think would be really interesting for my blog readers and I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a guest post sometime? I don't have much in that area, so it would help me out, plus get you a little more exposure on the web too!
Feel free to check out my site and let me know if you'd like to collaborate:
http://www.travelsite.com
Cheers,
Appropriate Emailer #2


EMAIL 3 -- Recipients: 115 TBEX friends
Subject: Super Amazing Photos!
Some pretty amazing pics don't you think?! Check them out and let us know your favorites!
http://www.PicsSoAmazingISpammedYou.com
Thanks!
Ineffective Spammy Emailer #3


EMAIL 4 -- Recipient: "Jane Doe"
Subject:
"Hi Jane,
I found your blog through the Photobloggers Group on TBEX. Just wanted to say your post about street food in Thailand was really well done and the photos were gorgeous. I represent a client company that produces camera lens filters. Would you be interested in me sending you one to review on your site? We could also do a giveaway for one of your readers if that's of any interest. Would it also be okay to add you to my media and blogger list for future news updates
on our products?
http://www.prcompanysite.com
Thanks,
Effective PR Emailer #4


The senders of emails #1 & #3 might get a few clicks, but probably not even that much. What they've mostly likely done is just annoyed 49 & 115 people. They've probably also caused a few members to disable notifications of private TBEX messages to their email inbox (thus causing them to miss actually meaningful messages in the future).

Furthermore, if message #3 was sent by a PR person (including social media interns) on behalf of their company or client, the email is in violation of the terms agreed to when creating a profile on TBEX.

The senders of emails #2 & #4 appropriately used the TBEX network to initiate a mutually beneficial connection to someone with similar interests. This is why we created TravelBlogExchange.com.

A good rule of thumb to follow for keeping your private messages from being flagged as spam is this: Keep your messages personalized to the recipient, relevant to the other person's interests, and not entirely for your own benefit. You may notice that rules out nearly all messages blasted to your entire list of friends on TBEX.

A much better place for emailers #1 & #3 to showcase their work would be in one of the many lively TBEX Groups or the Forum. There's even a StumbleUpon group if that's what you're looking for. Actually, using the search function in the upper right hand corner of the site will likely find a TBEX member anything you're looking for, and help you make connections. Because friendly spamming will not do it - that's for sure.

So be cool people. Because when you're not, I have to apologize for you to the TBEXers you've spammed, and then I have to send you an email in my 'mom' voice -- which is not my favorite thing to do. Let's keep the connections made here happy ones!


spam image by hegarty_david on flickr