Sping
Encyclopedia
Sping is short for "spam
ping", and is related to pings from blog
s using trackback
s, called trackback spam. Pings are messages sent from blog and publishing tools to a centralized network service (a ping server) providing notification of newly published posts or content. Spings, or ping spam, are pings that are sent from spam blog
s, or are sometimes multiple pings in a short interval from a legitimate source, often tens or hundreds per minute, due to misconfigured software, or a wish to make the content coming from the source appear fresh.
Spings, like spam blogs, are increasingly problematic for the blogging community
. Estimates from Weblogs.com
and Matt Mullenweg
's Ping-o-Matic! service have put the sping rate—the percentage of pings that are sent from spam blogs—well above 50%. A study commissioned by Ebiquity Group and conducted by the University of Maryland in 2006 confirmed that these numbers are around 75%. Since then, growth in sping has slowed such that the portion of pings that are spam has dropped to 53%.
The term was popularized by David Sifry from Technorati
in his February 2006 State of the Blogosphere report, but was coined initially in September 2005 by a French SEO
blogger, Sébastien Billard, in an article titled "Spam 2.0".
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
ping", and is related to pings from blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s using trackback
TrackBack
A trackback is one of three types of linkback methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to their articles...
s, called trackback spam. Pings are messages sent from blog and publishing tools to a centralized network service (a ping server) providing notification of newly published posts or content. Spings, or ping spam, are pings that are sent from spam blog
Spam blog
A spam blog, sometimes referred to by the neologism splog, is a blog which the author uses to promote affiliated websites, to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites or to simply sell links/ads....
s, or are sometimes multiple pings in a short interval from a legitimate source, often tens or hundreds per minute, due to misconfigured software, or a wish to make the content coming from the source appear fresh.
Spings, like spam blogs, are increasingly problematic for the blogging community
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
. Estimates from Weblogs.com
Weblogs.com
' is a site created by UserLand Software and later maintained by Dave Winer. It launched in late 1999 as a free, registration-based web crawler monitoring weblogs, was converted into a ping-server in October 2001, and came to be used by most blog applications.' is a site created by UserLand...
and Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg
Matthew Charles Mullenweg is an online social media entrepreneur, web developer and musician living in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his development of the free and open source web software, WordPress...
's Ping-o-Matic! service have put the sping rate—the percentage of pings that are sent from spam blogs—well above 50%. A study commissioned by Ebiquity Group and conducted by the University of Maryland in 2006 confirmed that these numbers are around 75%. Since then, growth in sping has slowed such that the portion of pings that are spam has dropped to 53%.
The term was popularized by David Sifry from Technorati
Technorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
in his February 2006 State of the Blogosphere report, but was coined initially in September 2005 by a French SEO
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
blogger, Sébastien Billard, in an article titled "Spam 2.0".
External links
- As Blogs Grow, So Does Spam, Christopher Heun, Internet Week, April 21, 2006