A broadcaster’s stunt has thrown doubt on the value of
Facebook “likes”. A BBC reporter set up a site for West London company
VirtualBagel on Facebook with a modest $10 in ad campaigns to publicize it. By
the end of his campaign’s first week, VirtualBagel had 2999 likes.
The problem: VirtualBagel doesn’t exist beyond its Facebook
page. No one could actually have appreciated its service, or eaten any of its
bagels, because it doesn’t make any.
After examining the profiles of those fans, the BBC found a
disproportionate number from Egypt and the Philippines. Michael Tinmouth, a social media marketing consultant, ran a
similar probe on behalf of a number of his small business clients and found
that a number of suspicious accounts emerged from Egypt and the Philippines.
“They were 13 to 17 years old, the profile names were highly suspicious, and
when we dug deeper a number of these profiles were liking 3,000, 4,000, even
5,000 pages”. Tinmouth disputed payment with Facebook over advertising after
his research revealed that he hadn’t reached “real people.” Facebook has
admitted that 5% to 6% of its accounts, or somewhere around 54 million, are
fake.
Many of the "likes" on brands' pages come from people
who "like" just about anything. This good for Facebook since every click
on an ad earns them money, but are advertisers getting a good deal?
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