Facebook Inc, in a bid to maintain its image as an “authentic” advertiser, is weeding out fake page “Likes” on its giant social networking site which it says blackmarketeers, spammers and malware use to falsify info on businesses, celebrities, and individuals
Social media experts suggest that Facebook and other networking platforms including Twitter and YouTube are facing reputational threats from the fake ‘likes’ sold in bulk to falsely boost a brand’s user preference.
According to Facebook, a “Like” that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a page benefits no-one.
“This is in line with its T&C’s and policies in its online engagement with brands in which it uses key information as age, gender and location to target advertisements at particular online users,” Facebook said.
Pagedata.com, an independent Facebook Page tracking service, indicated a massive drop of pages that are purported to have harboured fake ‘likes’.
For example, FarmVille, a Facebook game app shed 239, 603 likes in a week indicating how deep this goes while celebrity pages Rihanna and Lady Gaga lost 135,422 and 179, 200 ‘likes’ respectively.
The possibilities of interacting with an audience who have the power to make 24/7 demands on general issues, entertainment, politics and business across the globe has gone up and it evident just how far competition to outdo each other has gone.
A Facebook blog post quoted its most powerful aspects as the ability to precisely measure each stage of how content is consumed and shared and deleting fake page likes is a step into ensuring this happens as deemed fit.
The social sites shares went public earlier this year but market indexes have since shown a dive from the initial public offering of $38 in May to $20.62.
