Like everyone else, I detest spam. And we all know we shouldn't expose our email address on the Web, especially the social media sites. But I wondered, what would happen if I posted my email address in a Twitter feed, LinkedIn or Facebook update? I'm curious but not foolish, so I created three dummy Gmail accounts. I posted one of them in a Twitter feed and the others in LinkedIn and Facebook updates.  

The results after one month? No flood of spam. Not even trickle really. The LinkedIn and Facebook addresses were completely spam-free. The Twitter address received three spam emails - one from the Irish Lottery Corp informing me that I was a millionaire, another was the typical Nigerian 419 scam and the third was a 419 with a twist of adventure:

"I am Capt. Bruce Evan Roberts, with the US Navy Joint Special Operations,USS COLORADO around Gulf of Aden, I have $9Million US Dollars in my possession,which was seized/confiscated from somalia pirates between Yemen and Somalia Waters in Gulf of Aden, we want to move the funds out of the USS COLORADO around Gulf of Aden to a secure location to enable you assist us in investing it in a profit oriented business."

I would still advise against exposing your email address in Social Media but if you happen to accidentally send out your email address, don't wring your hands over it.