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View Full Version : Beware of "Like" farming on Facebook



Harold Mansfield
04-06-2013, 11:39 AM
If you use Facebook you see this everyday, meme's that ask you to "like" something to show that you support or don't support it. I've always been suspicious of these because they are obvious attempts to do nothing but build "likes", and most of them are fake, or the facts completely wrong. <br>

They range from memes that take some made up quote and apply it falsely to a familiar face or celebrity, divisive political statements, "Like if you hate cancer", name a city that doesn't have the letter "r" in it, and other mindless panderings. To me, what they are doing is obvious, but apparently not everyone recognizes the dirty underhanded things that people do online.

They seem innocent enough, but what these really are is called "Like farming"....

A Facebook page is created, with an appeal for readers to like, comment or share. The creators, who are working together to build these pages, share it among themselves. They all have big networks, so the pages instantly get into thousands of other people's news feeds. When those people respond with a "like" or a share, then it reaches their friends. Suddenly, the thing has spread faster than a high school rumour.

Then what? Then the people who started it, having quickly acquired tens of thousands of followers, sell the page. Now an advertiser has all those names and Facebook addresses. And that advertiser, who isn't allowed to phone you and whose flyers go straight to your recycling box, is sending you commercial messages on Facebook.


Read more here: http://www.news.com.au/technology/you-like-but-are-inspiring-facebook-posts-real/story-e6frfro0-1226503077666

And it's not just meme's. They go so far as to take pictures from other people's profiles and make up completely false stories about people disappearing and need help, so please share and help us find them, saying people have Down's Syndrome and to share if you think they are beautiful, and so on.

To make a long story short, Facebook is full of spam disguised as honest conversation. Stop "liking" everything.

vangogh
04-08-2013, 12:51 AM
Why am I not surprised. I think the same sort of thing used to happen with seo where some would buy a domain, get a lot of junk links to the domain so it ranked quickly for something and then sell it to someone else.

Same general scam moved to a new location. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

patrickprecisione
04-08-2013, 08:15 AM
Not surprised either. Also alot of businesses use the same tactic. Posting pics that are completely unrelated to their business but will get likes. I wonder if Facebook will eventually alter their algorithm in a way that devalues these low quality posts? Or if that's even possible for FB?

Harold Mansfield
04-08-2013, 12:14 PM
The one true constant about the web and tech in general, is that people find a way to exploit it before it's creators can catch up to patch the holes.

vangogh
04-08-2013, 02:38 PM
I think that constant predates the internet. It's a human thing. Some among us have been exploiting others since the days we started forming communities.

semaphore.v
04-09-2013, 08:58 AM
One question always come it to my mind that how malware can work while facebook will suspended when you logging from different geographical IP?

billbenson
04-09-2013, 12:00 PM
My karate instructor does a good job of mixing personal and business on his Facebook page. He both puts karate stuff there but he puts stuff about his family and garden on there. Most of the revenue for a karate school comes from kids programs. By combining recommendations and endorsements from great martial arts organizations, students winning at a lot of tournaments, and combining that with being a good family man is great for his business.

Just an example of where personal and business can mix.

Harold Mansfield
04-09-2013, 12:22 PM
One question always come it to my mind that how malware can work while facebook will suspended when you logging from different geographical IP?
Malware comes into play when you are clicking to sites outside of Facebook. It used to be a huge problem inside of Facebook, but they've quashed that problem by doing away with the free for all app hosting. You now have to host your own content on an SSL server.

AlexMc
04-09-2013, 04:03 PM
I have never even thought about this before! I would never click any of it though, so I'm not worried about Malware, but I've definitely seen these opportunities to "like" something to show that you support or don't support it. Thanks for the heads up

KristineS
04-10-2013, 12:43 PM
I hate this sort of stuff. I'm so sick of like if you support our soldiers or like if you think this puppy is cute or whatever it is. I'm to the point where I won't click like on anything unless I know the person who posted it and it's relevant to them.

It is sad that people spend more time figuring out how to game the system than to use it correctly. This sort of thing makes it harder for those of us who are trying to genuinely communicate with our customers.