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econsultancy_xml

The Wordpress platform powers 2.5m blogs, so that 800,000 figure equates to more than 30% of those sites. If this is representative of all blogging platforms, then this is clearly a major problem. Spam blogs are automated blogs that simply lift the extract from an RSS feed and re-publish with a link, using the stolen content to climb up the search rankings and often cash in with AdSense ads. Other blog platforms have been <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/12/guardianweeklytechnologysection.it">criticised</a> for the amount of spam blogs they allow - especially Google's Blogger service, with some estimating that <a href="http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/012778.html">75% of the blogs it supports are splogs</a>. Estimates of the size of the problem also vary widely - Technorati boss Dave Sifry raised more than a few eyebrows recently when <a href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/01/23/thats_kinda_a_lot_of_spam_dave.html">he said splogs accounted for 99% of the content it tracks</a>. Technorati hasn't updated its State of the Blogosphere report for a while now, but the <a href="/blog/1030-blogosphere-still-growing-technorati">last update </a>in April 2007 claimed that between 3,000 and 7,000 of the 120,000 new blogs it was indexing daily were spam. But whatever the true figures, it's good to see Wordpress' creators taking some steps to deal with the issue. Related stories: <a href="/blog/480-blog-growth-dips-as-technorati-tackles-splog-problem">Blog growth dips as Technorati tackles splog problem</a> <a href="/blog/2005-technorati-relaunches-website-again">Technorati relaunches website (again)</a> <a href="/blog/649-gartner-predicts-that-blogging-will-peak-next-year">Gartner predicts that blogging will peak next year</a>

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph>The Wordpress platform powers 2.5m blogs, so that 800,000 figure equates to more than 30% of those sites. If this is representative of all blogging platforms, then this is clearly a major problem. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Spam blogs are automated blogs that simply lift the extract from an RSS feed and re-publish with a link, using the stolen content to climb up the search rankings and often cash in with AdSense ads. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Other blog platforms have been <Link URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/12/guardianweeklytechnologysection.it" Window="Self">criticised</Link> for the amount of spam blogs they allow - especially Google's Blogger service, with some estimating that <Link URL="http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/012778.html" Window="Self">75% of the blogs it supports are splogs</Link>. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Estimates of the size of the problem also vary widely - Technorati boss Dave Sifry raised more than a few eyebrows recently when <Link URL="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/01/23/thats_kinda_a_lot_of_spam_dave.html" Window="Self">he said splogs accounted for <Quote>99%</Quote> of the content it tracks</Link>.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>Technorati hasn't updated its <Quote>State of the Blogosphere</Quote> report for a while now, but the <Link URL="/blog/1030-blogosphere-still-growing-technorati" Window="Self">last update </Link>in April 2007 claimed that between 3,000 and 7,000 of the 120,000 new blogs it was indexing daily were spam. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>But whatever the true figures, it's good to see Wordpress' creators taking some steps to deal with the issue. </Paragraph> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Related stories:</Emphasis> <LineBreak /> <Link URL="/blog/480-blog-growth-dips-as-technorati-tackles-splog-problem" Window="Self">Blog growth dips as Technorati tackles splog problem</Link> <LineBreak /> <Link URL="/blog/2005-technorati-relaunches-website-again" Window="Self">Technorati relaunches website (again)</Link> <LineBreak /> <Link URL="/blog/649-gartner-predicts-that-blogging-will-peak-next-year" Window="Self">Gartner predicts that blogging will peak next year</Link> </Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

2008-03-04T10:28:00+00:00

econsultancy_xml

It seems that splogs (spam blogs) are still a major issue in the blogosphere, at least according to Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg. Mullenweg told the Future of Web Apps conference (<a href="http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/03/03/mullenweg-indicates-over-30-percent-of-blogs-are-spam">via WebProNews</a>) that its Wordpress software has deleted more than 800,000 splogs, calling spammers "the terrorists of Web 2.0".

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>It seems that splogs (spam blogs) are still a major issue in the blogosphere, at least according to Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg.</Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Mullenweg told the Future of Web Apps conference (<Link URL="http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/03/03/mullenweg-indicates-over-30-percent-of-blogs-are-spam" Window="Self">via WebProNews</Link>) that its Wordpress software has deleted more than 800,000 splogs, calling spammers <Quote>"the terrorists of Web 2.0".</Quote></Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

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For background on online PR and social media more generally, It's worth reading our (free to registered users) <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/online-pr-and-social-media-trends-briefing">Social Media Trends Briefing</a> (June 2009). Econsultancy has also published <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/social-media-and-online-pr-digital-marketing-template-files">Social Media and Online PR Template Files</a>, which you can adapt and use for your own projects. For innovation in this space, download our <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/innovation-report">Innovation Report</a>.

365183

Wordpress: 30% of blogs are splogs false

2008-03-04T13:00:00+00:00

wordpress-30-of-blogs-are-splogs

2009-04-30T01:15:25+01:00

2009-10-13T09:32:49+01:00

813