The Dangers of Tag Trains. You know the feeling – scrolling through your feed and bam!
There’s a post riddled with those @ handles, looking more like a phone book than anything interesting.
Not only does it scream of dodgy spam, but tagging a load of accounts at once can actually land your own account in hot water.
Here in this X guide, I’ll crack open why those mass tagging sprees are a right turn-off, and why platform jiggery-pokery is a right pickle for everyone involved, even the innocent folks who get dragged into a tagging frenzy.
So what exactly is platform manipulation?
Of course, X has a whole policy dedicated to platform shenanigans, you can find it yourself if you’re that way inclined.
But fear not, I’ll spare you the legalese and break down the relevant bits about these tag rampages and why they’re a right nightmare.
“You may not use X’services in a manner intended to artificially amplify or suppress information or engage in behavior that manipulates or disrupts people’s experience or platform manipulation defenses on X.”
Right then, let’s break down what this all means. In a nutshell, if you’re trying to blag your way to the top of the pile on X by tagging a load of folks, you’re breaking the rules.
It’s basically like cheating the system, which isn’t fair play.
“Platform manipulation can take many forms and our rules are intended to address a wide range of prohibited behavior, including:
inauthentic engagements, that attempt to make accounts or content appear more popular or active than they are”
So why is this bad if you’re tagged?
X, like most social media platforms, relies on clever algorithms to sniff out spam and, of course, platform manipulation.
These algorithms act like digital bloodhounds, always on the lookout for anything fishy.
They also used to have this feature called “circles” – kind of like friend zones.
These circles grouped similar accounts together, so if you followed someone in a mutual circle, you’d see more posts from other folks in that circle too.
It is an algorithm recommendation system based on your online pals.
Right, let’s keep things simple.
Imagine you’re a little independent shop on X. You chat with other local businesses online, building connections and whatnot.
Because of that, the platform’s clever algorithms take note and start showing your posts to folks who follow similar shops.
It’s a way of connecting people with things they might be interested in.
However, not all groups online are created equal.
Some have members who, let’s just say, break the rules by spamming or trying to trick the system according to X.
That’s where things get messy.
But I’m innocent?
Now, imagine you get tagged in one of these mass tagging sprees.
You might think nothing of it and reply, or even worse, whack a load of your own mates’ tags in there.
But here’s the rub – by getting involved, you’re kinda tarred with the same brush as the original poster.
X sees you as part of the whole tagging roundabout, and that could land your account in a right pickle.
Tagging Trains actually have a separate rule within the X Platform Manipulation policy too.
“You can’t artificially inflate your own or others’ followers or engagement. This includes:
reciprocal inflation – trading or coordinating to exchange follows or Post engagements (including but not limited to participation in “follow trains,” “decks,” and “Repost for Repost” behaviour)”
How do you stop being dragged down with the original poster?
Simple answer, don’t reply, EVER.
Don’t say thanks, don’t reply at all, don’t even engage.
Use the three dots located near the post and use the ‘Leave Conversation’ option. This sends a clear signal to X that you’re not into this Platform Manipulation malarkey and protects your account.
What people don’t know is that X flags accounts as spam. There’ll be a certain number of flags before X acts and asks the account to verify they’re human.
Continously abusing the systems will result in the account being deboosted, you’ll probably never be aware that an account has these flags, they’re hardly going to announce it to everyone, but by engaging in their posts, especially ones with break the rules, you’ll be punished too.
Conclusion.
To sum it all up, if you see something that looks dodgy on X, give it a wide berth.
Don’t reply to spammy posts, especially those riddled with @ tags, and if someone’s clearly breaking the rules, report it and move on.
Remember, engaging with these sorts of posts can potentially flag your own account – and who wants that hassle?
Keep your X experience squeaky clean and scroll on by anything suspicious!
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