I have not found someone who loves spam. The feeling everywhere is that spam is bad. In fact, most people detest spam and people who engage in spamming.

So I am sure you are not engaged in spamming people.

You are sure?

Well, are you really sure?

May be in the way you look at a typical spam message.

Let us take a look at spam again.

1. It is a message that is unsolicited

2. It is cold – comes from someone that you don’t know very well.

3. It is mostly generic but looks like it’s personal

4. An action taken based on the email will be useful to the sender or someone on behalf of whom the email was sent.

5. The same action is not very useful to the recipient.

6. It takes time to process that email introducing an opportunity cost.

Now think about an email that you sent to someone that you didn’t know very well where you made a solid case for them to help you with your project.

Now go through that email with the spam checklist above.

Ta Da!

It matches 6 out of 6.

Congratulations for being a spammer. If you continue to do this day in and day out, you will become a Pro soon!

To make it simple – spam is something unsolicited that has a lopsided consumption to contribution ratio.

[ consumption is what you get; contribution is what you give]

If you think someone you know is spamming, gently send them a link to the blog post. May be they will get a hint 😉

Photo Courtesy: JuustoNaksu on Flickr