Advocacy Groups Alarmed by Gmail’s New Segregation of Social and Promotion Emails

Gmail shook up users’ e-mail recently, moving “social” and “promotion” e-mails out of the primary inbox and into their own tabs. The promotions tab has some digital activists and non-profits up in arms because it lumps together advocacy e-mails with commercial marketing requests and essentially exiles them to an inbox ghetto. Sure, the promotions tab isn’t quite the junk mail folder. But, it’s natural to assume e-mails sent there will get less attention than those routed to the primary inbox.

Avoiding Spammy Links

Now that Twitter, with its 140 character message limit, has transformed the practice of using shortened URLs (web addresses) into common use, people are quite comfortable clicking through, even though shortened web addresses were first invented by spammers to disguise malicious links often set up to invade your computer. So what can you do if you encounter a shortened web address? Try a URL checker to find out just where that link is taking you before you click with abandon. Five free URL expansion services are pictured here. Try one for some peace of mind.