I’ll assume you are one of the trillions who have clicked on the link someone provided only to find it took you way beyond La-La-Land and into someplace you rather not be.  This is happening to frequently and is causing most people to not take the risk of opening a link, even from a trusted friend.  So, why are more people on Twitter and Facebook still asking people to “Click on the Link”?

Like most things online the dark side of the internet feeds off the good ideas of honest people.  Use to be when someone asked you to click on a link it usually provided information relevant to your interests.  People could be trusted to understanding that whatever someone shared with others was worthy of their time to ‘Check it out’.

Now days you are taking a risky chance when you oblige someone in clicking on the link they asked you to click on.  Rough statistics show that over 80% of the time the link will lead to a product or service promotion with some questionable quality or other less desirable concern.  A great number of the links people ask you to click will send you out into a never ending ordeal of trying to get out of the link you clicked on.

Still, there are honest people out trying to help others..sponsor, clients and so for..to get exposure to their cause and will crank up Twitter or Facebook to post their URL for the world to ‘Click’.  The downside is..not many will take the chance anymore and if they do they only click on it since they REALLY trust the person who posted the link.  Most expect when they do click on the link to go to something that will generate the old WTF or GMAFB reaction.

Unfortunately, that trustworthiness of a close friend is proving to be something the scammers are very interested in using and now are hacking social networks to appear to be your close friend.  The result, not many will Take for granted that a friend is really ‘the friend’ and will not risk take a change in clicking on the link.

How to Get Someone to Check Something Out

The sure fire way to get someone to ‘Check This Out’ is to incorporate the request into a well crafted comment in the social space that will draw the True Friends to check out your blog where the site you are wanting people to check out is incorporated into more detailed content about why they need to check it out.  Facebook does a good job of taking fake links serious and providing a photo and brief description of what it is you are going to see in the link someone posts.

If you don’t have time to do this..it might be best to wait until you have time.  At all costs you want to avoid the impression people will get that you have joined the dark side…or someone has joined if for you.  Clicking on Links from someone’s simple request to do so is moving pass being risky to quickly becoming something that does not help someone’s image.

Click carefully my friends, and let me know how I can help.