This story was first published in The Namibian way back in 2013 but still mostly holds true today. http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=107686&page=archive-read#
ROB PARKER
Facebook has been undergoing some changes which users have likely noticed. The social media site are putting more and more adverts into your news feed and getting better at tailoring those adverts to user preferences.
Aside from these growing intrusions there is another phenomenon rising as Facebook implements new features: The Like Farm.
All Facebook users have seen these posts whether we recognise them or not. You will see a post that says, 'Bet you can't name a country without an 'A' in it', or a picture shows a man standing on the edge of a cliff and the caption instructs you to 'Type 'jump' in the comment box and see what happens'. Of course, nothing happens, it's a photo for crying out loud. You might have wasted your airtime on that one.
That post usually comes from a page that specialises in creating this type of engagement - A Like Farmer.
The images and memes are selected so that as many people will 'like' them as possible. They will play to your urge to solve a puzzle. The puzzle will be easy enough so that all can play, as the point is to generate comments and likes. Others will plea: ''Like' if you hate cancer.' Or 'If I get enough 'likes', my dad will quit drugs.'
The creators of these Facebook pages first share the post among themselves. Creators of pages like this will typically also have a large number of followers each. Now the posts and pages are instantly visible to thousands of other people's news feeds. The people who then from there interact with that post then expose that option to their friends.
So where's the con? The people who started the Facebook page, having quickly acquired thousands of followers, sell it off, which was always their goal. Now an advertiser has all those names and Facebook addresses and will use them to try and sell you genuine items, or could inbox you attempting to con you.
When visiting the site Likey.net, which offers users an array of different spam-type groups to like. By all indications, these sites are very busy, and their respective Facebook pages are as well. What you actually may be doing when you click 'like' on one of these Facebook memes or images, is signing yourself up for future spam.
Like farms and like buying aren't entirely new concepts, Google dealt with similar problems with link farms during the search engines adolescence. Since Facebook developed the open graph and is busy distributing 'like' buttons all over the web, they have become more of an issue, and will probably continue to be unless Facebook decides to do fix it.
One solution Facebook are toying with is introducing a fee to send a private message to people who are not on your friend list and they are running pilot projects for the program now. Aside from the potential for massive revenue generation, the platform is also hoping to cut down on spam. While logistics or user resistance may derail those plans, the solution would render the Like Farm for commercial purposes seemingly obsolete.
'A statement on the Facebook website stated that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages...'. The problem, as usual with Facebook is that the cure may prove to be worse than the disease as they are essentially promising to sell access to your inbox, leading to fears of being flooded with constant spam from big companies with the budgets to buy access.
All Facebook users have seen these posts whether we recognise them or not. You will see a post that says, 'Bet you can't name a country without an 'A' in it', or a picture shows a man standing on the edge of a cliff and the caption instructs you to 'Type 'jump' in the comment box and see what happens'. Of course, nothing happens, it's a photo for crying out loud. You might have wasted your airtime on that one.
That post usually comes from a page that specialises in creating this type of engagement - A Like Farmer.
The images and memes are selected so that as many people will 'like' them as possible. They will play to your urge to solve a puzzle. The puzzle will be easy enough so that all can play, as the point is to generate comments and likes. Others will plea: ''Like' if you hate cancer.' Or 'If I get enough 'likes', my dad will quit drugs.'
The creators of these Facebook pages first share the post among themselves. Creators of pages like this will typically also have a large number of followers each. Now the posts and pages are instantly visible to thousands of other people's news feeds. The people who then from there interact with that post then expose that option to their friends.
So where's the con? The people who started the Facebook page, having quickly acquired thousands of followers, sell it off, which was always their goal. Now an advertiser has all those names and Facebook addresses and will use them to try and sell you genuine items, or could inbox you attempting to con you.
When visiting the site Likey.net, which offers users an array of different spam-type groups to like. By all indications, these sites are very busy, and their respective Facebook pages are as well. What you actually may be doing when you click 'like' on one of these Facebook memes or images, is signing yourself up for future spam.
Like farms and like buying aren't entirely new concepts, Google dealt with similar problems with link farms during the search engines adolescence. Since Facebook developed the open graph and is busy distributing 'like' buttons all over the web, they have become more of an issue, and will probably continue to be unless Facebook decides to do fix it.
One solution Facebook are toying with is introducing a fee to send a private message to people who are not on your friend list and they are running pilot projects for the program now. Aside from the potential for massive revenue generation, the platform is also hoping to cut down on spam. While logistics or user resistance may derail those plans, the solution would render the Like Farm for commercial purposes seemingly obsolete.
'A statement on the Facebook website stated that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages...'. The problem, as usual with Facebook is that the cure may prove to be worse than the disease as they are essentially promising to sell access to your inbox, leading to fears of being flooded with constant spam from big companies with the budgets to buy access.
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