Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Evolution Of Spam: A Timeline Of The World's Most Hated Messages

I've been using e-mail now for business purposes for just over 15 years, and sending personal e-mails (anyone remember CompuServe or Prodigy???) dating back to my college days almost two decades ago, but it seems that spam has been omnipresent the entire time. That's probably no exaggeration, since I can remember receiving unsolicited messages from the next dorm over about some harebrained scheme concocted by a cadre of aerospace engineering students. In any case, with the advent and proliferation of social networks, the global spam epidemic (read: scourge) has become even more dangerous, problematic, and dare I say annoying, than ever before.

And that's what is so appealing about this infographic, courtesy of Column Five for Marketo, and showcased in this piece on AllTwitter. For the first time ever, check out the evolution of spam, including the interesting origin of the term (a tip of the hat to Monty Python) and how the world's most hated messages have changed over the past 150 years:

Please feel free to click here for a clearer and much larger view!