009 - what is spam?

Spam is canned pork, first introduced by Hormel on July 5th 1937. It became a killer product thanks to World War II as the fighting made it difficult to deliver fresh food to soldiers at the front.

It was a staple in my diet during the many summers I spend as a kid in the Finish forests or Norwegian mountain. It wasn’t that the nearest store was too far, but that without electricity you can’t keep meat that long. Yes, my parents loved to disconnect from reality during a time where cell-phones didn't exist.

But spam is also this

This is ideal for platforms that want high engagement, loads of users returning for more and more casts that don’t make them think. Spam, engagement farming, call it what you want. It’s the addiction of our times. And it's mental. Not as in "this is mental" aka cool/crazy, but as in "you are mentally addicted to it".  

And mental addiction are the devil. 

Why would someone post spam and be associated with that type of content? Money? Lack of opportunity? Ignorance? Forced labour? 

Don’t laugh! Forced labour isn’t just working in factories, construction sites in Saudi Arabia, or domestic worker for rich people, prostitution in India. It’s also scamming people and sex chats. Doesn’t sound as awful as forced prostitution, but that’s easy to say while we’re comfortable lounging on the couch, feed up and fridge full out food. I'm digressing, again.

It looks like it's easy to differentiate between spammy-cast and not-spammy cast. Just like everyone knows that the canned pork version of Spam is 💩 compared to the real deal. But you know what, some people love canned pork.

While some person's trash is another person's gold, the problem with spam and engagement farming on a social platform is that these casts are designed to be picked up by the algorithm and fed to everyone. Getting an algorithm to not pick them up is a constant cat-and-mouse game, trying to stay one step ahead of the masses of engagement farming accounts, humans and bots.

I got an ask for you, if you come across a cast that is spam for you, send it to me in a direct cast or quote cast it with "@kbc spam example

Loading...
highlight
Collect this post to permanently own it.
The Cheshire Cat logo
Subscribe to The Cheshire Cat and never miss a post.
  • Loading comments...