What is spam and how to stop it?

What is spam?

It’s mainly a cost efficient method of marketing, which addresses large groups of people and tries to convince them, using multiple channels, to buy different products or access various services. Spams, apart from annoying because they are unsolicited, could also be dangerous, as they are often hacking attempts. Phishing method, or plain virus spreading are based, significantly, on spamming. Statistics say that, in present time, more than 95% of email messages sent globally are spam. That’s why spam protection is considered to be a main issue concerning Internet users.

Types of spam

Depending on the media channel the spam senders use, there are different types of spam. So, before we talk about spam protection let’s see where we can find them and how to identify these types of irritating messages.

Bulk emails

They are written on a personal tone but don’t rush to feel special because it’s the same text written for thousands of people. It has either an advertising purpose or a malicious intent to spread corrupted files or to trick users with phishing technique.

Spamming through social media

The spam goes wherever the users are going so social media couldn’t be the exception. There’s a good example of spamming on Twitter where a large numbers of tweets made very popular a fake post that went like this: “Have you heard about Google taking in workers online? I read it at www.ajobwithgoogle.com Very Interesting!” The engagement rate of this tweet gave site ajobwithgoogle a high ranking although it was all for nothing. The same approach works for Facebook. The tempting links are called clickbait and they trick you with fake or misleading messages to click them.

How to avoid spam?

To get things clear right from the start there is no method to block spam that works 100%. But there are ways to greatly diminish them. Your email client tries to filter spam as best as it can but it can only do so much. The rest of the effort to ensure spam protection lies within your attempts so here’s what you should do:

Customize your filter

Act without mercy when you spot them. If you detect them in your Inbox do more than just delete them. Every mail service has a button which you can use to report them. So do that. In the future it will teach your email platform to remove them by default. The same goes for Facebook. Report suspicious presence on your wall. Facebook will follow your track and it will remove them.

Don’t engage

If you see them, report them but don’t interact with spam otherwise. Don’t open them and especially don’t click on the links inside the email or message. In worst case scenarios it’s a virus or other form of malicious file. At best, you are tricked to engage with a website that builds a high ranking using you as a tool.

Don’t advertise your email address

If you want to keep your Inbox as clean as possible you should give your email only to the people you know. Don’t make it public in online environment and especially don’t use it to subscribe to websites you don’t trust. For that use an alternative email you use for these kind of purposes only.

Install a dedicated anti-spam filter

They are many options here, some of them work better than others but usually not as good as they advertise. Any one of them might help you block spam but don’t rely only on this one solution to fix the problem.

Filter spam as a necessary ritual

Spamming might be an issue you think is of little importance, depending on how tolerant you are regarding annoying messages or how easily you get tricked by them. Either way, there are present in your digital domain so it’s best you manage them as efficiently as you can. If you may, it’s like dusting your house from time to time. It’s a necessary ritual.