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[JonMarc Wright Company: Usana Health Sciences, Inc. Contribution Level: 3]

As someone said, it is in the eye of the beholder. Or another common one is "perception is reality."

When someone accepts a friend request, that is different from an opt in. They are agreeing to a personal connection, not to become a "lead." Sure, some people might get your info and not think of it as spam, but plenty are likely to think of it as spam. I probably wouldn't report you, but if we made friends on a social <--- important word there, SOCIAL ---- networking site and I would probably unfriend you first, delete the spam second. That goes for Twitter, facebook, doesn't matter.

A friend request is just that, now if you state in your friend request that you sometimes send promotion offers and information about your business,etc, and it still gets approved, THEN I would say you can feel free to send them information, but I wouldn't do it right away nor would I do it often.

The goal of social media marketing is not to find people to send your offers to, it is to allow people a place to go to get to know you better and get to a point where they will ask you about your offers.

One reason why certain people can "get away with it" but not everyone is because some people have already built the credibility needed. People view them as something they WANT to hear stuff from. Most marketers out there haven't reached that status and so yes, the rules are a bit different. If you don't have the social equity to pull something off, it probably won't work.

Take care,

jM

[Leonardo Saraceni Contribution Level: 3]

I never thought this subject would generate such a long post, seems pretty straightforward to me:

First of all, just like you delete SPAM, and try to "unsubscribe" from as many known sources as you possibly can, you have the option to opt-out from the Better Networker, at any point, without hurt feelings.

The admins know this very well, and they limit their communication to not more than once a week, because they do not want to clog anybody's inbox, and only send messages regarding content that "better networkers" would be interested on. It is absolutely not SPAM because:

- you requested information by joining the community;
- you have a relationship with the market;
- you can trace the sender and unsubscribe from its messages;

Very different from receiving rolex offers, or viagra, or hong-kong bankers trying to wire billions into your account.

And OF COURSE the instructors have more privilege! That should not be news to anybody; Mike Dillard has devoted a lot of his time and money to put this community together, ITS FREE to join, and its an amazing marketing tool (if well utilized); him and whoever else he sees fit, given the appropriate restraints (i.e not spamming!), will be able to use BN to market their products.

But it is still a heck of a lot different than somebody on facebook plastering affiliate links

To our good sense,

Leo Saraceni

[mike gaiser Contribution Level: 2]

I guess I have to agree with the majority on this one. You kinda opt in when you signed up for BN. Now if I sent that e-mail to you what would you call it? that's the $64,000 question

[Cindy Schulson Contribution Level: 2]

Good question. If you shared that information with people, I would think you're doing them a favor. The site Jason sent offers 8 free videos about SEO, and as everyone has said, these guys are true leaders in their field. If people don't want to sign up for the training program, they don't have to, but the free training in itself is extremely valuable.
Best wishes,
Cindy

[Good Bye Contribution Level: 2]

What another great topic and posted on Better Networker.

In my opinion when you take a look at SPAM... that is a blast of email promotion sent to people unknown in order to direct their attention or influence them to make a purchase from you or your affiliate organization.

Some people may have an inner problem with PROMOTION of any kind and that is an inner belief. The most successful people in business are the people who PROMOTE and PRESENT themselves and their businesses every single day.

In my opinion, we didn't get SPAM, just a simple PROMOTION for something that may help those people in search of more education on internet marketing.

[mike gaiser Contribution Level: 2]

Right on Abw, I was hoping someone would agree. Not that i have a negative attitude, (read my articles) but fair is fair right?

[Kim Williamson Contribution Level: 2]

Hi Folks,
It would seem that there is a fine line between spam and promotion. I noticed when I first joined, newbies seemed to always to get slammed for "promoting their opps", While instructors or for self-appointed gurus it is cool to do. So yeah there is a double standard for sure. While us normal people have to reserve our opps to the opp page or in our signature, for others its a "free for all" no matter what the content. But there is definetly an opt-in situation here at BN.

Out in the world if you get email from something you signed up for you are not only opting in with that company, but all of their sister sites as well.

Read the fine print.
There is always fine print, terms of use etc..

Kim~medhat141

[Tony Hadley Contribution Level: 2]

Great subject for a discussion. I got the email. Usually Jason has good tips but that one was promoting a product. Is SPAM really SPAM if it has good content? I think yes, if it's unsolicited. But, with that, I have to agree with 4mywealth though, we opted in, so to speak when we joined BN.

Otherwise, the topic reminds me of what a Supreme Court Justice once said about a decision on obscenity: I can't really define it, but I know it when I see it.

Tony

[Kim Williamson Contribution Level: 2]

OOp's I wasn't meaning to be derogutory! Just the facts man! Now the question is do I mind? Nope! It's why I joined. To meet people and learn all kinds of goodies and in fact I am the proud owner of MS and BOAB Mr Dillard. As well as Mike Klinger and Network Marketer, I am going to learn something if it kills me.

Kim~medhat141

[Malika Duke Contribution Level: 3]

Thanks for starting this discussion Lee,

There seems to be two different conversations going on in this thread.

One about communication from BN admin and faculty and another about BN community spam. Is that where the double standard lies?

The difference is one is permission based on my agreement to participate in the community. I want to hear from them about whats going on. Promotional and all.

That is also why I added you as a friend. You can pitch me all you want after we get ti know each other as well as the better network admin knows me and you offer as much value a long with your pitches as BN admin does also.

The problem with spam, which Alex seems to misunderstand (from what I understand of his posts), is that it comes out of left field and with NO value attached. On top of that it unsolicited "commercial" email which is very different from personal "friendly" email.

As a marketer Alex, you may be "immune" as you said to spam. However, marketers how use spam on the general public give ALL marketers a bad reputation as selfish, snake oil peddlers.

My real friends and people to whom I have expressed an interest in developing a business relationship are more than welcome to pitch me stuff both free and for free.

If I don't know you and therefore don't like nor trust you, the exact same message, verbatim would absolutely be spam.

It's like saying a kiss from anyone is the same as a kiss from someone special. If we have an intimate relationship= passion . A kiss from a total stranger= harassment!!

It may seem like a double standard but it's really not. Real relationship= a friends recommendation . No relationship= SPAM .

I've had enough conversations with Jason Better to warrant me opening every single email. I can't say I've had the same level of interaction with the guy I may have added as a friend this morning (although I may have ).

You simply don't know enough about my needs and problems to refer anything at all even if it's just what I need.

Truth be told relationships make all the difference in the world. And Just to clarify further, NOT ALL SALES/COMMERCIAL MESSAGES ARE SPAM.

I hope that makes sense

Malika
P.S here's a decent explanation of spam I found when I google what is spam: http://spam.abuse.net/overview/whatisspam.shtml if anyone thinks the email from Jason fit this description then comment here. If you have a differnt definition of what spam is then post that here too.