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Beware of Those Selling Facebook Likes [ARCHIVED]


petrosianii

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I had been thinking about buying Facebook Likes for a page of ours. But as a professional digital marketer, something just never set right with me about the whole idea of buying fans or likes. There’s just a whole lot to be suspicious about with this enterprise.

First, let’s think about it. If I’m buying a Like, that means that the person who was “bought” may have been coerced. Think about it: in order to guarantee, for example, 500 likes in 3 days, there’s a very high likelihood that at least some of the “Likes” don’t even know they’re “liking” your page. I would suspect that many of these bought Likes were actually forced by some type of software or manipulation of Facebook profiles.

This is - in fact - what happens with some of the outfits that sell Likes. A Quora Forum on the subject states,

"There are two ways [that Facebook Like Sellers use to get you LIkes], both illegal.

  1. One is to have a bot network. This essentially works by creating many fake Facebook accounts, running them under assigned proxy, and initiating actions on behalf of user.

The latter is very tricky, because it will recuire a lot of endeavour to create a cURL driven system that’s hard to detect. Back in 2011, I’ve experimented myself how vulnerable Facebook is for such behaviour – pretty vulnerable. If you make the users to “chat” with one another, like random content, browse random pages, upload random photos, it will go through unnoticed. I’ve reported few of the suggestions how to improve Facebook platform against these vulnerabilities, though never got a reply. Eventually got banned from Facebook, though probably unrelated since the fake accounts were still active ~3 months later that I’ve checked.

The same of course can be achieved using cheap labor force to manage many Facebook accounts.

  1. The second approach is the infamous use of Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) trickery. It involves such methods as using pointer-events:none; or hidden overlay Like box to make user believe that he is clicking something completely different while in reality he likes whatever the content was given."

So, either way, what you’re buying are probably not authentic, real Likes from interested users. That point is important. What’s the point of having Likes from users who don’t really “Like” your brand? Or, what good is it to have Likes from users who were just mass-generated with an automated software that creates fake accounts?" (see http://www.fragglesrock Sheriff’s Note: Off Fiverr links are not allowed.

Ive-seen-people-sell-Facebook-likes-in-sites-like-fiverr-How-do-they-actually-do-it)

Now, the second reason why you probably should not buy likes is because Facebook doesn’t like it. In fact, Facebook is now actively opposing these sorts of artificial Like inflation schemes and is even banning some accounts that engage in this practice:

"In a blog post by its security team at the end of August, Facebook announced a new automated system for detecting and removing fraudulent likes, noting:

‘A Like that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a Page benefits no one. Real identity, for both users and brands on Facebook, is important to not only Facebook’s mission of helping the world share, but also the need for people and customers to authentically connect to the Pages they care about. When a Page and fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific Page and engaging with that brand’s content. As such, we have recently increased our automated efforts to remove Likes on Pages that may have been gained by means that violate our Facebook Terms.’

This initiative is meant to improve the integrity of the Facebook platform, as well as enhance brands’ engagement with their fans and provide a more accurate platform for measuring demographics and other data from fans and customers. Because a higher percentage of a brand’s likes will now be users who actually want to connect with the page, brands can have a more engaged and relevant fan base as well as a more accurate read about their real customers.

Facebook has already taken some steps to prevent fraudulent Likes. This new crackdown is designed to find and remove Likes that were obtained by malware, hacked accounts, coercion of users, or purchased in bulk by brands that wanted to quickly grow their network on the site, in violation of Facebook’s terms of service. However, Facebook stated that it expects less than 1% of page Likes to be removed as part of the clean up, at least for brands that have been abiding by Facebook’s terms of service." (see http://www.fragglesrock)
Sheriff’s Note: Off Fiverr links are not allowed.

Buying Facebook likes is a bad idea. Not only is it poor marketing, but it is against Facebook policy. Buying likes could even get you banned from Facebook. Fiverr should strongly consider banning people who sell these types of gigs.

Eric Bryant
Gnosis Media Group

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Many, MANY things are against Facebook policy, including the way many use the banner space and contests from the Facebook platform, large brands included. The fact is that Facebook is there to drive you to ad buys, plain and simple.



They want you to buy ads to get fan engagement…from them.



Every single thing that they say or do is designed to that end. But facts are facts. What Facebook says and what Facebook does are rarely the same thing. In fact, the only time I’ve ever seen them take action for rule infractions are when it’s done directly in front of engineering staff. Even their reporting area delivers no movement.



Why?



It’s simple. Facebook relies on raw numbers to boost ad buys. Those raw numbers come by the millions for fake profiles set up for gamers, privacy reasons and a multitude of online marketing reasons. All against the TOS, yet they are in no hurry to start kneecapping their bulk numbers (which show growth even though actual users may not be growing…must…serve…stock…prices…) to make a point.



As far as the fake likes, it does not serve a conversion purpose, but it does serve a social sway purpose along with search benefits. Until all pages are on equal footing, no savvy marketer should be removing useful tools from their toolbox.



btw. I do not provide this service but have zero problem with their use and would have no hesitation to use them to establish a new page or revive a dead one.

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@petrosianii - One word. Wow.



Let me attempt to… ah heck. You feel the need to rant, so I will as well.



First. You have your facts slightly skewed, and even what you’re right about, you’re simply twisting it to fit your post.



First off. Why should selling Likes not be allowed on Fiverr? It’s NOT against the Facebook TOS. Facebook ‘Sells Likes themselves!’. What do you think Facebook ad campaigns are? You pay Facebook for each person that likes their page.



Now. To clarify.



A Bot is a computer generated Facebook account. Sometimes (The good ones) have a profile picture, but not much else. You can generally see these by noting that they probably only have 1 picture and no activity. Or little. *** These ‘Bots’ are NOT ALLOWED and break the TOS because they are not a real person. ***



Bots don’t usually last long anymore though because of the newer Facebook security system. That’s why people that buy Likes generally complain of the likes vanishing. It’s because Facebook closes the accounts.



There is nothing against providing Likes in the Facebook TOS from good standing accounts so long as the likes were not obtained through… for lack of a better word… Trickery.



Now, to state the obvious.



If you are buying 100… hell, even 10 likes you are right about one thing. Yes. You paid for the service so they are NOT going to be real likes. You can’t pay someone to like something.



*** If you have a page all about Peanut butter, and you hire… me to provide Likes to it, no problem. So let’s say Peter is paid to Like your page, and he’s allergic to Peanuts. Of COURSE he’s not going to be a real fan because he’s allergic to Peanuts. He was simply paid to like a link and moves onto the next page to get paid some more.

You are paying for a service, not a true Fan. Did you really expect a true fan to like your page that’s paid to? ***



It’s just common sense. If you pay someone to Like something you can’t expect to get a genuine Fan in return. It’s paid for.



As for buying the likes, it’s actually a GOOD marketing idea. It’s better than a newspaper ad or commercial or something. And is along the same lines.



So long as the Likes you purchase don’t start to vanish, (Indicating Bots) the service provides a few good and important help factors.


  • They boost the search results rank of the page in question.
  • When someone likes a page (Paid or not) it shows up on their friends newsfeed, in turn, sometimes generating new “Real” likes.
  • It allows for a cutsom URL name for your page.
  • And, one of the biggest factors is that it provides a cushion for potential new Likers. Real ones. How? Simple. Have you ever walked in to a party and been the only one there? Did you want to leave? Well, same for a Facebook page. Nobody wants to Like an empty page or be the first one.



    Now, in closing.



    The ethics of buying Facebook likes are always in question. And it’s irritating. Buying Likes is no different than buying an ad in your newspaper, putting flyers on cars or making a commercial. In the end, it’s considered advertising. Like I said above, Facebook sells likes themselves. It’s a good business.



    You can’t expect to buy 100 REAL LIKERS for 5 bucks. C’mon now. You didn’t think that was the case did you? But there are benefits so long as you know who you’re buying from.



    Buyer beware. Ask questions, try to avoid ‘Bots’ and it’s just another marketing tactic.



    Saying that Fiverr should ban the sale of Likes is simply unfair and ridiculous. Just because you don’t approve of something doesn’t mean someone else won’t.



    Buy from sellers who are honest and on the level and you’ll be more than happy with your purchase. That’s really the key. Buyer beware.



    And yes. I do provide this service, have for years.

    And I am proud to provide it knowing that I provide an excellent service for 5 bucks and that I work hard to ensure the client is happy.
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Word to Eric:

If you are a Social Media marketer then you have probably understood by now that numbers count. If you ignore the numbers then you will be left behind. Since the ranking of facebook pages on facebook search and google search are dependant on the number of accumulated likes (real or not) , one cannot simply ignore the power of “paid” likes, especially when they are so cheap.

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My opinion on this is that fake likes hurt the eco system, of social media, they can damage to your brand and ruin your reputation. Why? Because people are not stupid. I run my own twitter account for my business since 2010 I have accumulated over 26,000 followers they are all very genuine high engaged people who are interest in the news content I syndicate across the web. A competitor of mine had 3,000 followers, great, until one day a few days later they had 45,000 ‘followers’. I wasn’t the only one that noticed this, lets just say that this ruined thier reputation as they were in the “Social Media” marketing niche.



People do check, fake likes / followers do not engage with your brand they don’t talk about it, they don’t share it with their friends, how many big brands with social media profiles with say a random number such as 50,000 likes / followers have constant engagement from their users they share it they comment on it they like it, if I See a facebook account with that many likes and no engagement I turn off, same with twitter a quick scan of their followers reveals the truth same bio message, same picture in many profiles same accounts following the same people. Google now ranks website based on social engagement with the Penguin algo they measure this engagement as something called a social signal, it signifies that this brand is popular. Do you think robotic followers / likes are going to do your ranking in this signal any good.



If you want to take risks with your brand that up to you. I know which camp I sit in.



Regards



Wayne

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@cybercube - Wrong. Bot’s are becoming a dying breed (On Facebook anyway). Facebook can tell what’s going on, and that’s why so many ‘Like’ buyers complain about their likes vanishing. Because Facebook closes the fake accounts and flags them. Sure, you can still make them I’m sure but you won’t last long when all your Feedback becomes negative.



@ozzieuk - I agree. Some people are greedy. And I don’t really know much about Twitter except the obvious you pointed out. As for Likes, you mention big brands. Would it shock you to know that a “Lot” of big brands started their Facebook pages purchasing huge sums of Likes? That got them going. In search, and reputation. When it comes to big brands you have to look at it in perspective. Log onto Coca-Cola’s Facebook page. You’ll see like 57 million+ Likes… yet they only have 575,000 talking about them on the page. That’s 56.5 MILLION inactive people they have. See my point? They purchased the likes to get going. After that, the likes became natural and they were number 1 in search. (I use Coke because it was the first thing that came to mind).



The Facebook algorythm is known as EDGErank. And it still classifies the number of likes as number 1 in their figures. But it also takes into account interaction (As you stated) but not as a primary. One should note that they also factor in the amount of Likes they may remove from your page because the likes were ‘Bots’.



I don’t want to go into all the positive points VS negative again. (Please read my post on the top to read Positive and negative things about buying likes (Second post down I think)) but so long as it’s not ridiculous, buying Likes for Facebook pages is still a smart move. (Try to avoid bots though). Some of us do provide good Likes… not a lot… but some. Oh, and again @ozzieuk again - I hope you read my top post. LOL… but anyway. There will always be 2 sides to the buying Likes debate. We can’t all share the same opinion, that would be boring. LOL. But, as a provider myself I can help educate and help dispel myths. What’s the one major drawback of buying likes? You don’t get the satisfaction of knowing you earned them. But, having some numbers behind you helps to generate real likes. So long as you’re not greedy about it.

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bigbadbilly said: Would it shock you to know that a "Lot" of big brands started their Facebook pages purchasing huge sums of Likes?

 

Not at all, I have heard of it happening a lot. If it's a numbers game fair play to them, I rather see quality rather than quantity. There been a major crack down on in in recent months as you already know with many of these fakes dropping off the radar.

 

But whilst there is demand, there is always going to be a market for it.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Many of the FB likes are genuine…

Some are having a huge amount of Fanpage likes and they are driving likes to their clients page by manually promoting them…

In the case of mine… I give FB likes by exchange website points…which drives only real people…to my clients page… Not all are Fake… Not all are Good… Life is a Mixture of Spice and Salt…

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Many of the FB likes are genuine…

Some are having a huge amount of Fanpage likes and they are driving likes to their clients page by manually promoting them…

In the case of mine… I give FB likes by exchange website points…which drives only real people…to my clients page… Not all are Fake… Not all are Good… Life is a Mixture of Spice and Salt…

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  • 2 months later...

I just finished running two experiments. I purchased FB likes from someone right after starting this thread, in January. The seller delivered something like 2000 likes gradually, over a period of like two weeks. There was no trouble with my account. However, almost immediately after the Likes were delivered, they started gradually “shrinking” and disappearing. Within about a few months, the Like count was down to about 1500.



So, I paid for 2000. I actually only got 1500. So, even if it were legit, I still got ripped off, in a sense.



Fast forward to last week. I tried the service again, purchasing 1200 Likes. The same seller. This time, I got 1400 Likes delivered all in one day. The next day, I looked at my FB account, and all the likes were gone. Obviously, the activity triggered some sort of FB spam prevention filter or something. The seller asked me to give him time to “look into” the issue. I told him to forget about it and leave the account alone because I don’t want to risk getting it banned, now that we’re under the radar.



I went to the seller’s Fiverr gig page to remove my positive review. While there, I noticed that another customer had the exact same problem! He had written a negative review and asked for an immediate refund. I also noticed that the Seller had quickly suspended this gig.



You guys can stay in denial all you want, but the proof is irrefutable - FB is cracking down on this, and buying Likes is risky.

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Reply to @ozzieuk: Agreed, and there so several systems that will generate the percentage of ‘fake followers’ on any Twitter account. All it takes it one person to announce your ‘faux authenticity’ and your entire reputation and everything you ‘worked for’ is gone. The internet is full of intolerable things, but thankfully one thing the internet doesn’t tolerate, more like the folks of the internet is fake-ness, and nasty-ness. Numbers make you look good, at least you think it does, but in reality you’re just feeding your ego.



Buying followers, and likes is against both Twitter and Facebooks terms of service. You can get 100,000 followers but honestly it does nothing, and all it takes is one person to find out, call you out, put you, your face, your social media accounts, and your business on blas and single handedly shut your whole internet life down.



Have anyone not seen or heard the witch hunts Reddit users create in? Lol.



I literally know people who faked business content, someone on the internet found out (I didn’t even know and I was her close friend). As a result, she was threatened with a law suit, and local tv reports at her door with cameras. She had to change her cell phone number, got fired from her job, and ended up breaking up her own marriage. She can’t even get a job now because when her name is searched on google all the articles come up about your and her faked reputation with her business. No one will hire her. Her name is tarnished forever on the internet.



With that said, leave the paid-for do it your self popularity by the door. It is not worth the risk of your business, and it’s not worth risk of ruining your entire personal and business reputation.

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  • 1 month later...

Reply to @bigbadbilly: It’s clear me you haven’t read Facebook’s or Fiverr’s terms of service. Engaging in the sale or purchase of likes is a violation and will be removed, and if discovered Facebook will have your page placed under limitations, or removed all together. Same goes for Fiverr’s, their TOS clearly says that it’s a violation of third-parties terms. Basically, if you break Facebook’s terms, you’re breaking Fiverr’s. You will have your account closed.



Fiverr does ‘ban’ the sale, gigs like these get removed very quickly.

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  • 4 months later...

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