[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #327: Sending bacn

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #327: Sending bacn
March 27th, 2013

baconThis week, we had to make a choice. Should we do a sagacious blog 
post about computing based on quantum mechanics 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/testing-a-new-class-of-speedy-computer.html>? 
Or should we write about bacn? Guess which one we chose. But don't be 
misled into thinking we're going to blog about food (finally!) and can't 
spell. Bacn is the name that was coined in 2007 for the stuff in email 
inboxes that's halfway between spam ("fake ham") and personal email 
("real ham"), and is now so prevalent as to be a nuisance. It's email 
people requested once upon a time, for one reason or another, that has 
now become annoying. If your library sends out newsletters by email - as 
we send the /4cast/ to some librarians - you might need to be careful 
about becoming a nuisance and ending up in the "junk" folder.

  * 'Graymail': How it will affect your email program
    <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/conference/2121419/graymail-affect-email-program>
    (ClickZ/Mike Hotz) "Unlike spam, a 'bacn' email is one recipients
    actually requested, such as Facebook and Twitter notifications,
    Google News updates, and Groupon daily deals. However, those
    recipients no longer read those emails regularly. Maybe they don't
    think the content is interesting, or they no longer use the products
    or services advertised, or the sending frequency is too high."
  * Why your inbox fills with bacn instead of spam
    <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21830739> (BBC News/Mark Ward)
    "The tools used to stop spam get in the way of stopping these
    messages precisely because they occupy that hard-to-define space
    between real junk and real messages. On the one hand, they are
    legitimate because people have signed up to receive them, they come
    from reputable web domains and have the same syntax as real
    messages. However, they are also slightly spammy because they arrive
    so regularly and some of their language resembles the hyperbole
    employed by most junk mail."
  * Bacn is the new spam <http://blog.glider.io/bacn-is-the-new-spam/>
    (Glider Blog/Herwig Konings) "For every $1 invested in email
    marketing, $40 in sales are returned. That is double the return on
    search or display ads, and triple the return of social [...]. This
    golden goose tactic of email marketing for retailers is now turning
    into an annoyance for consumers. What is a person to do when they
    want to stay in touch with multiple retailers and commercial email
    senders? Many are saying simply unsubscribe and your inbox will be
    clutter free! I respectfully disagree. Commercial senders are still
    important to consumers and they still want to see these messages
    when they have time."
  * It's a thin line between spam and bacn
    <http://theinboundevangelist.com/2013/02/11/its-a-thin-line-between-spam-and-bacn/>
    (Inbound Evangelist/Dan Moyle) "Now, don't be afraid to email the
    people in your database often. Research shows that people don't
    unsubscribe until they're getting email in the ridiculous range. I'm
    talking once a day if all they want is a newsletter, or every hour
    when they're expecting a daily email. Make sure you set the
    expectations and follow them. If you say you'll email weekly, don't
    switch to daily."

*/Infographic fact:/*

Yes, there is an infographic 
<http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/bacon-infographic/> about bacn, which 
points out that in 2010 (the most recent statistics we could find), over 
27 billion bacn emails were sent each day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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