How Not To Do Social Media
One of the most visited posts on this blog over the years has been the Land O' Lakes Butter box trick. It is also the most spammed post on this blog. Usually I delete them as soon as they come in, but I'll leave the most current one up, just as a lesson on how you shouldn't promote your business on blogs. Never mind the bad grammar, as I don't speak Spanish and am not one to make fun of anyone who can speak more than one language. But the form is the same in all of them, "Love your blog. Please keep it up. Now visit my site that has zero to do with anything being discussed here." Here is the current comment, verbatim:
Sure, it was probably automated. (Wait, it can't be since I have the word verification feature turned on. So someone is actually pasting this comment in along with their linked name and typing in the captcha.) So what has the site owner lost in terms of time or resources? Probably very little. But is a link buried in a mildly trafficked blog post comment thread really that valuable when you risk looking like a shameless spammer?
Parkrrr points out in the comments that it's all about Page Rank, which is all about links, and one time a long time ago BoingBoing linked to me, giving that post some rank. So it's a piggyback link game! Well, screw you, Costa Rican Land Pimps. Your comment goes away now.
Sure, it was probably automated. (Wait, it can't be since I have the word verification feature turned on. So someone is actually pasting this comment in along with their linked name and typing in the captcha.) So what has the site owner lost in terms of time or resources? Probably very little. But is a link buried in a mildly trafficked blog post comment thread really that valuable when you risk looking like a shameless spammer?
Parkrrr points out in the comments that it's all about Page Rank, which is all about links, and one time a long time ago BoingBoing linked to me, giving that post some rank. So it's a piggyback link game! Well, screw you, Costa Rican Land Pimps. Your comment goes away now.
Labels: bad business, blogging best practices, comment spam, corporate blogging, social media, SPAM
Sent into orbit at
10:48 AM
4 Comments:
Ya missed one, from November.
They don't care if they look stupid to your readers. All they care about is PageRank, and that blog post of yours has some by virtue of being linked to from other reputable sites like BoingBoing.
By
Anonymous, at June 3, 2010 at 11:12 AM
I finally had to set my blog to turn off comments for each post after 30 days. That's saved me from spam comments on the old posts, which were really getting out of control.
By
Average Jane, at June 3, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Actually, links in blogs will not flow PageRank if you use nofollow (which is supported by blogger). This has been true since 2005.
By
AZ, at June 3, 2010 at 12:41 PM
I've thought of that, AZ, but that would prevent relevant links, like yours in your comment.
By
RFB, at June 3, 2010 at 12:45 PM
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