How much for a Facebook like? Maciej Szlosarczyk

How do we use Facebook likes?  To say “I agree (with this article/opinion).”  To build my identity [1]: “I’m gonna like PK Dick to tell my friends that I’m interested in classical sci-fi.”  To say “I went there and I’m willing to go again.”  To say “I am interested in this product/company” [1] Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S., & Martin, J. (2008). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1816– Scissors, L., Burke, M., Facebook, S. W., & Way, H. (2016). What’s in a Like? Attitudes and behaviors around receiving Likes on Facebook, 1501–

What companies want our likes for?  To say “I went there and I’m willing to go again.”  To say “I am interested in this product/company”  To validate their business presence on Facebook, companies need people to like their brands, pages and posts.  If something is liked a lot, it is also assumed that it is popular, trustworthy and approved.

How do companies get likes?  Organic growth of popularity  Friends and family  Clever marketing campaigns (OnePlus)  Sponsored ads, bought from Facebook  Click farms!

What are click farms?  Businesses that provide “followers” or “likes” to companies willing to buy them.  They mostly use people in developing countries to provide accounts to like a page.  Some use strategy of fake “giveaway” of unsealed items, such as RayBans or Beats to create a popular fan page, and then merge it with the bidding customer’s fan page.  Click farms are mostly against Facebook’s terms of service.

How to spot a click-farmed fanpage?  Likes are out of place – Tallinn’s restaurant is unlikely to have many followers in India or Malaysia.  Likes grow rapidly in numbers.  The new likes come from people who have only few friends and a stock picture for the avatar.

Questions. I ask, you answer.  Have you looked inside your Filtered messages folder on Facebook?  Why all the fake accounts sell cheap RayBans, not some other item? I’m curious, really.  Why fake accounts and click farms are against Facebooks Terms of Service and it’s interest?  What else is against ToS?

Answers  Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:  You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.  You will not create more than one personal account.  If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.  You will not use your personal timeline primarily for your own commercial gain, and will use a Facebook Page for such purposes.  You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.  You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.  You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.  You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.  You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.  If you select a username or similar identifier for your account or Page, we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe it is appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).