Redes sociais na web e SPAM

Conforme eu já havia comentado anteriormente (aqui e aqui), o crescimento das redes sociais na web não pode ser ignorado.
Infelizmente, como é da natureza do ser humano, os aproveitadores são sempre os primeiros.....
O artigo abaixo (do site e-Marketer) mostra muito bem os problemas potenciais:

Social Networks and Spam
JUNE 13, 2008

Does everyone suddenly want to be your friend?
In the past 12 months, more than four-fifths of social networking site users said they received unwanted (or spam) "friend" invitations, messages or postings on their social or professional network account, according to a Cloudmark-commissioned poll conducted by Harris Interactive.

The problem with such unsought friend invitations is that they are often a prelude to more malicious activity. Social networking spam generally targets users with unsolicited product messages or attempts to redirect them to a phishing or malware site. Two-thirds of respondents said they would consider switching social networks if spam became too frequent.

"Social networking sites need to be concerned about the proliferation of spam and phishing attacks and the impact it could have on their ability to grow and retain members," said Jamie de Guerre, CTO of Cloudmark, in a statement. "Social networking providers must address the security issue head-on or risk declining usage and revenues."

Respondents received an average of 64 unwanted friend invitations, messages or postings in the last 12 months.

Mr. de Guerre said that "consumers needed to take the same precautions they have adopted in other forms of online communications, including never responding to unwanted messages and never posting personal information on their profiles that could lead to identity theft."

Privacy concerns were one of the main barriers to using social networks cited by respondents ages 40 and over in a recent JWT BOOM/ThirdAge study.

Social networks are currently sensitive to anything that could affect their use—and ad revenues. Facebook quickly retooled its Beacon behavioral targeting system in November 2007 in response to a privacy backlash.

Advertising on social networks has already proved more challenging than initially expected, prompting eMarketer in May to lower its social networking advertising spending projections.

"These new forms of advertising are more difficult to plan, measure and quantify than what advertisers are used to, and that has impacted spending growth," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.