This is a big story picked up from PSFK and a video you should watch.
"It appears Facebook’s ad sales program may not be as legitimate as Mark Zuckerberg would have you believe. In a recent post, video blogger Derek Muller uncovered a series of disquieting similarities between “likes” purchased through Facebook’s own ad sales program and those purchased through the now forbidden “click farms” spread throughout South America, Africa and Southeast Asia."
"Muller’s video builds on an investigative report conducted by BBC Technology correspondent Rory Callen Jones in 2012, and suggests that Facebook may actually be selling click farm “likes” – which is to say, fake “likes” – at an inflated rate."
"What’s perhaps most disturbing about the discovery is that it implies that when a brand purchases “likes” through Facebook and then posts something, Facebook’s redistribution algorithm – designed to share posts with only a small fraction of a brand’s followers – actually renders that post less likely to reach real fans. As a result, brands are forced to pay twice: once for fans, and a second time for promoted posts."
(c) psfk
