Facebook Spam is becoming a huge problem

Facebook Spam has been a problem for some time now, but it appears to be getting worse. It’s even become more effective than email spam. According to a recent article in Information Week, the average conversion rate for a recent Facebook spam campaign was about 47%, meaning that nearly half of the people who saw the spam clicked on the link to read it.

Several Facebook users have had their accounts compromised, allowing spam to spread on Facebook through status updates, chats and private messages. I’ve noticed this happen to a few of my Facebook friends over the past year.

Another serious spam problem is occurring within Facebook Pages as spammers are posting inappropriate and sexually suggestive user-generated images. These adult images are showing up on the top Pages on Facebook, like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Skittles, etc. Most brands have been able to delete the images quickly, and some are even shutting off the ability for users to submit images altogether. The most popular Page on Facebook, Michael Jackson, continues to be targeted with these images (scroll through the fan photos if you want to see what I’m talking about).

This is a significant problem for Facebook as many brands are using the platform to interact with customers. There needs to be options in place that allow admins to have more control over their Page. Yes, it’s easy to delete and ban users, but it would be nice to have an approval process for content that’s being uploaded to your page (or at least a notification that a photo has been added). From articles I’ve read, Facebook is aggressively filtering Fan Pages for Spam.

Have you noticed an increase in Spam on Facebook? Have you noticed inappropriate content being posted from fake profiles? Are you concerned about your own profile being attacked by Spam?

UPDATED: Looks like Facebook has closed a hole that was being used by spammers to automatically post wall messages and direct messages to friends. (via cnet)