14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has introduced a new filtering option for page administrators, which allows them to manage spam more easily and keep their Walls clean.
With a huge user base of over 500 million, Facebook is a highly attractive target for all kinds of spammers and scammers.
Survey scams might be getting more exposure in the media lately, but the traditional comment spam remains a big issue; and one that used to be time consuming to deal with.
In order to help page owners better cope with the stress of detecting and deleting spam posts, Facebook has introduced automatic filtering. The new feature is explained in the Help Center.
"Facebook is now helping Page admins ensure that the most valuable content posted by users on their Page wall is more visible to anyone viewing the Page," the company says.
"We are now offering automatic content filtering on Page walls that will ensure that posts soliciting spam are removed from public view as well as ensure that posts containing good content remain more visible," it explains.
Page owners will receive automatic notifications about the new Spam filter option can access it by clicking on the "Options" link on the Wall display and choosing "Spam."
This will list all messages automatically tagged as spam and prevented from being shown to visitors. Each post has an X mark next to it, which when clicked, offers the option to remove or unmark it.
Admins should check their Spam filter frequently enough, because as any automatic detection solution, it suffers from false positives and can block harmless comments.
This still beats having to constantly scour through the tens or hundreds of comments, especially on very popular pages, to identify the offending ones manually.
Facebook has recently shown a determination to crack down on spam and other threats, and even filed lawsuits against three alleged survey scammers.