Spam

spam

spam/

noun

noun: spam; noun: Spam

1. 1.

   irrelevant or unsolicited messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users, for the purposes of advertising, phishing, spreading malware, etc.

   • unwanted or intrusive advertising on the Internet.

     "an autogenerated spam website"
2. 2.

   trademark

   a tinned meat product made mainly from ham.

verb

verb: spam; 3rd person present: spams; past tense: spammed; past participle:spammed; gerund or present participle: spamming

1. 1.

   send the same message indiscriminately to (a large numbers of Internet users).

Interesting potential fact:

The Internet sense appears to derive from a sketch by the British ‘Monty Python’ comedy group, set in a cafe in which every item on the menu includes spam. (Thanks define: command on Google!)

I'm sorry to disappoint anyone that was expecting a post about the tinned meat. Instead I'm going to write about the Irrelevant or Unsolicited messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users. Even more specifically than that I am going to focus on recruiters. Yep that old chestnut. 

For the most part anyone that moves through life faces an untold amount of spam, whether that be through your letter box or online. For the most part this is ignored and if possible the sources will be blocked. 

I'd say pretty much anyone who uses a social media service knows that there's nothing like a recruiter spamming your social networks with irrelevant jobs (of course as +Tony Melling pointed out in a conversation on G+ if there is the clear distinction of being a jobs feed this doesn't apply). If all I can see in your feed is jobs that you are working on then you add no value to my (or anyone else's) network and you tend to get un-followed. Try interspersing that constant flow of jobs with something that might be of interest to someone in either your target or peer networks. The same thing goes to all those on Twitter and LinkedIn asking the "Are you a good fit for this job?" question that is automated from Bullhorn Reach. 

These are probably the same people that then complain about how social media is worthless and that they see absolutely no ROI for their time on there...