Not "Tagged"

Slammed.

Frankly, I was surprised that there was little comment to my post about
social media. In a lot of ways, I think that so-called social media is and may be the way we get lots of our local news in the future. Facebook and others should not be written off as insignificant ways to fill the blank spots in our days. I find news, real news via social networking. Why did my post not get traffic? I think, perhaps, it is because I buried the lead.

I got email today from an Austin friend about this bunch that I referenced yesterday called "Tagged":

I recently received an email
"DAN SENT YOU PHOTOS ON TAGGED" and,
since we just had a family reunion, I assumed it was legit and went to the site.

However, there were no photos and it is a VIRUS.
If it somehow picks up my address book, please do not register on the site and delete the email immediately.

Well, considering that I'd just written about them, I thought I should check them out.

Snopes.com terms Tagged a mixture. "While these messages may not technically fall completely within either the 'virus' or 'scam' classifications, ... the method by which they are spread and their deceptiveness include both elements of both those classes."

In short, they are spam. I read the explanation on Snopes about how they got names and email addresses, but I still wonder. Tagged claims it is the third largest social network. I'm thinking that it is because they are counting all of the people they spammed.

My friend is right. Delete. Bottom line: This is anti-social networking.

(C) Jim McNabb, 2009