Facebook to Start Hunting Fake “Likes”

As the popularity of Facebook grew so did the importance most people give to “Likes”. They pretty much represent the social-proof currency of the web these days (i.e., the more “Likes” you or your fan page has, the more popular you must be). The consequence is an obvious one: people started finding ways to generate fake “Likes”.

No one seemed to care that much until this week, when Facebook announced it will start filtering those fake likes. Here’s a quote from an article on All Things D:

Facebook is a ginormous site whose primary currency is “Likes.” So, of course, it has a counterfeit “Like” problem.

Now Mark Zuckerberg and company say they’ve figured out how to crack down on zombie “Likes,” via “automated efforts” that will zap the bogus ones.

A blog post announcing the move says that most people won’t notice the change, because “on average, less than 1% of likes on any given Page will be removed.”

But I bet that some big brands and/or personalities that have many millions of “Likes” may see their numbers chopped more dramatically.

I don’t think accounts with fake “Likes” will get suspended though. If this was the case it would become too easy to sabotage the fan page of a competitor, for instance.

Anyway it will be interesting to keep track of the big brands to see which are the ones with the highest percentage of fake “Likes”.

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