With Social Media rising in heaps and bounds, everybody should be excited with all of the changes that are happening, right?  Not entirely so.  Unfortunately, with the increase in popularity and the technology available, there are a lot of tricks being used in social media to dilute the personal experience.

Social Media was designed to provide users with an interactive online experience, allowing friends and family to connect with one another whenever they wish, making the world just that much smaller.  The thing is, that with the popularity of social media comes some negative setbacks that are exploiting the experience, primarily to gain popularity for commercial brands, SEO companies, and internet marketers.  Rather than use social media the way it was originally intended, they ploy these tactics to drive up traffic, increase popularity, and rank better in search engines.

Now you might ask yourself: What is wrong with that?  The answer I would give if consulted on the subject is:  Even though these tactics are effective, they are taking the personal connection out of social media.  Below I’m going to share with you some “dark side” tactics used in building audiences and you can decide for yourself whether you would use these or not. Continue reading →