FaceBook Will Start Hunting Fake “Likes”

FaceBook announced yesterday that it will start hunting for zombie “likes”. Somehow, FaceBook has found a way to identify fake likes and automate their removal. Those “likes” that were acquired through deception, compromised accounts, purchased bulk likes and malware, are all at risk of being purged. But FaceBook says that on average, less than 1% of the likes will be deleted. This may sound too little but for companies with millions of fans and “likes”, 1% is substantially noticeable.
Here’s a portion of the announcement made by FaceBook:

To be clear, we do not and have never permitted the purchase or sale of Facebook Likes as we only want people connecting to the Pages and brands with whom they have chosen to connect. Beyond the need to maintain authentic relationships on Facebook, these third-party vendors often attempt to use malware or other forms of deception to generate fraudulent Likes, which is harmful to all users and the internet as a whole.
These improvements to our site integrity systems benefit both users and brands alike. Users will continue to connect to the Pages and Profiles they authentically want to subscribe to, and Pages will have a more accurate measurement of fan count and demographics. This improvement will allow Pages to produce ever more relevant and interesting content, and brands will see an increase in the true engagement around their content.

With the increasing value of social media in SEO and the over-all online marketing of businesses, these changes cannot be ignored. While it’s not as extensive and effective in filtering fake likes, it sure encourages businesses to build an authentic community around their brand.

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