PDA

View Full Version : The amount of spam on Linked In is almost overwhelming



Harold Mansfield
07-22-2013, 08:40 AM
I guess I just thought Linked In would be a true "professional network", but it's really shaping up to be one big "Look at me", "make money from home", "my system will make you rich" spam fest.

I guess there's really no way to police it since those are businesses too. Just because I know most of them are scams doesn't really make it my call.

I'm just really surprised that it's so blatantly spammy. It's pretty much all noise now.

Has anyone else noticed, or have you noticed a while ago and just don't spend much time there?

Wozcreative
07-22-2013, 08:49 AM
It depends on the network you have. I don't have that issue, most of the people I have on my list post interesting articles that I'd read. These are friends so I also enjoy learning about what their up to business wise. It helps to know my "competition" sometimes ;)

The only problem I have is those randoms that want to add me and I don't know who they are. It's frustrating.. why would I even add someone who can't be bothered to type in a sentence as to why they are adding me?

Harold Mansfield
07-22-2013, 08:52 AM
It depends on the network you have.

Probably a lot of truth to that. It's not so much my network, but groups that I have joined. At the moment I can't even remember why I joined half of them but I'm pretty sure it was at the recommendation of someone I knew.

And thinking back, they all started out as informative discussions, but now are just completely out of control.
Probably time to clean house.

Wozcreative
07-22-2013, 08:58 AM
Oh yes! The groups. I tried that for about 6 months.. total garbage. I removed all notifications to those and am not bothered by the groups. You might just have to remove it and you'll like linkedin more because it will be more personal.

Freelancier
07-22-2013, 09:07 AM
I've started "culling the herd" of connections I have so that I shape the network I want to have. I'm not in recruiting or a professional salesperson (or job-hopper), so I can safely limit my connections to those that matter to my business. It actually felt good to delete some connections that I didn't want and I'll bet they never noticed.

Harold Mansfield
07-22-2013, 09:10 AM
Ha. That's funny. It's been about exactly 6 months since I decided to put more time into Linked In and joined a few groups.

In that time I've been bombarded with requests to join other groups, add ons from every "Social Media Marketing Expert" in the western hemisphere, tons of Indian outsourcing companies that want to do my web work, and gotten into 3 day argument with a Libertarian, survivalist troll from Central Florida about how all web professionals are rip off artists who know nothng about working for a living because plain, black and white HTML pages rank better online because some HTML page he put up 10 years ago that still ranks on the first page for "Rumplestilskin Butter" ( or something obscure like that). And that we should all be shot for what we charge because we don't work as hard as he does selling pest control supplies.

Needless to say it has not been the Professional Networking experience that I had envisioned. Think I'll just stick with the people I know.

LGCG
07-22-2013, 09:18 AM
Aren't they trying to crack down on spam in groups? An acquaintance of mine was saying how their posts weren't showing up because the group moderators were filtering them out. Perhaps I'm wrong...

MinternetMike
07-22-2013, 02:44 PM
I agree there is far too much spam within the groups on LinkedIn. I have only started to use it more often now and have only joined a couple of groups but the sheer number of spam posts is getting irksome. It is putting me off, not from just joining and participating in groups but from using LinkedIn altogether. I don't have a large network of connections currently and I growing tired of all the random Indian companies constantly trying to add me and their irrelevant posts on otherwise interesting posts/articles.

dianecoleen
07-22-2013, 07:03 PM
I'm glad that some of the groups I have joined on LinkedIn were organized. And they didn't let spammers get in the way to the group. However, there will still be one group that will have a spammer, we can't control pest on growing, I guess. So I seldom leave such group to avoid waste of time. I, however, do check if the group is still worth to stay on, or if the group has some members whom I personally know.

With regards to spam messages, I think I'm getting 2 spams out of 5 messages which I think is just fine and can be manage for a second :)

carloborja
07-22-2013, 10:59 PM
Unfortunately, this is true. A lot of groups with huge number of participants all have spammy content shares in there.

However, there are a few groups that are worth participating to. You may need to search for them more deeply. But, there still are a few gems out there.

cbscreative
07-23-2013, 02:01 PM
Ha. That's funny. It's been about exactly 6 months since I decided to put more time into Linked In and joined a few groups.

In that time I've been bombarded with requests to join other groups, add ons from every "Social Media Marketing Expert" in the western hemisphere, tons of Indian outsourcing companies that want to do my web work, and gotten into 3 day argument with a Libertarian, survivalist troll from Central Florida about how all web professionals are rip off artists who know nothng about working for a living because plain, black and white HTML pages rank better online because some HTML page he put up 10 years ago that still ranks on the first page for "Rumplestilskin Butter" ( or something obscure like that). And that we should all be shot for what we charge because we don't work as hard as he does selling pest control supplies.

Needless to say it has not been the Professional Networking experience that I had envisioned. Think I'll just stick with the people I know.

Those were all me Harold. Now I know I have your attention.

Brian Altenhofel
07-26-2013, 06:41 AM
I get contacted almost daily by outsourcing companies.

Sometimes, I'll go find a post in a group where they or one of their employees recommended some very vulnerable code as a "fix" for something. When I include it in my response, I never hear from them or their organization again.

hayden
07-31-2013, 09:16 AM
I find that 'closed groups' tend to house a lot less spam. Cull the groups you are no longer interested in and remove any problem connections.

carloborja
07-31-2013, 10:21 PM
I find that 'closed groups' tend to house a lot less spam. Cull the groups you are no longer interested in and remove any problem connections.

I agree with this.

Those open groups are the ones that are encouraging spam except if they have active moderators.

OlegLola
08-05-2013, 10:52 AM
Hi guys! We use LinkedIn for promotion, but not through spam. We promote really useful and interesting articles from the blog in groups. But the articles are pending very often, at the same time we noticed that
moderators submit articles that are not related to the topic of group.

Harold Mansfield
08-05-2013, 11:04 AM
What I'm amazed at is people's inability to have a discussion about anything or offer any advice to anyone without spamming their business in every answer. It's actually pretty comical. It could definitely be a drinking game. You can follow people's activity all around Linked In groups and see them use the same answer to every question.


"Yes [insert OP's name here] you are correct. [Insert general, non-descript statement about business]. Take our business for instance, we [insert boilerplate self promotion that has nothing to do with the discussion]. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at [free email address] and I'll help you out"

It makes me wonder if they all enrolled in the same 90's online marketing school, or purchased the same Marketing Guru's DVD set that told them, "No matter what the conversation is about, make sure you talk about your business in every answer that you give" . Don't people know how transparent and obnoxious that is?

Business Attorney
08-05-2013, 11:42 AM
What I'm amazed at is people's inability to have a discussion about anything or offer any advice to anyone without spamming their business in every answer.

Harold, I think it really depends upon the group. I participate in several groups on LinkedIn where there is virtually no spam, while some groups I have joined seem to exist solely to promote spammy posts.

And of course it's not limited to linked in either. I occasionally participate in sites where lawyers answer questions posted by users. A few lawyers on every site seem to think that every answer calls for a blatant pitch for their own services. Apparently they cannot see how unprofessional that looks. Or perhaps it works for them and they don't care how it looks.

I'm sure it's not limited to online marketing either. I've met plenty of people who are in your face constantly even in person. It is just a little easier to avoid those people in real life than it is online.

Osprey
10-08-2013, 08:33 PM
you have to join closed networks - the open ones are trash and it is not worth the time. Google is going to come down hard on LinkedIn, like they did to Squidoo. Just join the closed groups or create your own closed groups.