When conducting online measurement and research for consumer packaged goods, I’ve often found that affiliate sites make up 3-60% of social media results (particularly when it comes to retail products). Here are a few ways to identify affiliate spam websites: Check out the URL. If you see that the main URL is a string of mumbo-jumbo letters or numbers (e.g. ab3bg.com/widgetreview) or directly related to selling a particular product (e.g. buywidgets.com/widgetreview), there’s a good chance you’re looking at an affiliate website Look for multiple posts with the same content. Retweets are one thing, but if you see a string of the same overly positive or promotional posts from different sites with no direct attribution, you’re likely looking at affiliate spam. Look for specific keywords. Proceed…