One of the greatest advantages the Philippines have in the world of BPO is that we got really cheap labor and we’re relatively very good in English. That’s why we’re one of the top suppliers in the call center industry. And it doesn’t stop there.
According to the latest entry by Akismet in their “State of Web Spam“, the anti-spam service points out our exceptional skills in written English:
Human-posted spam has been on the rise for some time. Low-paid workers are hired by “SEO†firms to post comments on blogs and forums, advertising their clients’ web sites (typically small local businesses). The workers generally operate out of internet cafes and universities, particularly in India, South-East Asia, and Turkey. The quality of comments varies, with the best written spam usually coming from SE Asia. There are now sophisticated marketplaces set up specifically for hiring manual workers to do this kind of spam.
They didn’t really mention the Philippines but we all know that among the countries in South-East Asia, the Philippines is the top English-speaking country.
I’ve known a lot of SEO sweatshops being operated in some key cities in the Philippines, including Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cebu City, Legazpi City, Bacolod and Iloilo. They’ve heavily trained employees to write very sensible and relevant comments in blogs and forums that that get past spam filters.
I’ve encountered a lot of these human-powered spam since last year in my blogs and they sometimes pass manual review — the comments are sensible and well written but the accompanying links usually gave them away.
Well…even not directly mentioned eh maybe true.. =) Philippines has been always branded to be #1 in many aspects. #1 Corrupt country in asia?, #1 or texting capital of the world, #1 in call center business.., to mention a few. gee… maybe we should be glad? har har…
Hmmm, Abe, pero if the comments are relevant and the links point to something that is related – doesn’t that qualify already as non spam?
yep..dami ngang ganyan… you can see that on my last 4 blogs… the 3 post has a comment of someone known as a “fake steve ballmer”, but this is interesting, since people specially with sites that needs to have a high PR will surely bite this kind of modus!!!
http://teknisyan.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-browser-are-you-using.html
Saan ba pwede magapply ng ganyang trabaho? He he he…
Marami na rin akong nakitang ganyan dito sa Yugatech…
@bongskie – that’s why countries such as the Philippines and India have become the hub of BPOs because our salary scale is way cheaper compared to those in the west. Exchange rate is a factor (imagine a single salary in the US could be $3,000 but just $300 in the Philippines).
Same reason the biggest factories are operating in China. Labor is cheap there too.
sweat·shop [swet-shop]
-noun
1. a shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions.
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I’ve caught a couple of comment spams with sensible grammar in the last couple of weeks. It’s just a matter of keeping a sharper eye on the links and keywords they include in the comments.
First of all I’m not the an employee for this Bacolod SEO branch. hahaha . Medyo tama ring tawagin na “sweatshop” coz the work are just in the label of low-IT skills. But I’m not going against out ITes and for sure pang more on freelancing ito.
tnx abe well definitely wait for that!
cheap labor? parang di yata maganda yun ah
@jan – I’m planning to open a section just for that.
@fjordz – not really no. 1 but the best in terms of grammar and sentence construction.
so aside from BPO, number 1 na rin pala ang Pilipinas in terms of spamming..
off the topic,nabasa ko na binibenta mo ung mga units na nareview mo na cguro abe maganda kung magkaroon ka ng section were readers can bid on particular product. =] tnx
@partyfunky – i think we know different circles so maybe i don’t know those couple of friends you know.
I know a couple of SEO friends who are well compensated, offices setup in Grade-A IT/BPO facilities in Makati and Cebu City. I don’t believe they are underpaid, or anything that would justify the term “sweatshop”.
“I’ve known a lot of SEO sweatshops being operated in some key cities in the Philippines” -yugatech
If you don’t mind me asking, what is your definition of “sweatshop”? I don’t agree with the term used, with all due respect.
how do i apply to this kind of job? can anyone give me a link? thanks!
I do have a couple of friends who do this kind of work for extra income. They say, if you can bear with the tedious nature of spamming, it is a really good source of extra income.
Yup, the link gives them away no matter how sophisticated the comment may seem.
I consider it a backhanded compliment. LOLZ!!