Rejoice! As part of an initiative to improve its “site integrity systems”, Facebook has officially started a mass purging of fake accounts and “likes” on its platform.
Why are we celebrating?
For years, scammers have taken advantage of “likes” by commodifying the metric and selling fake accounts and fans. But this wasn’t just the scammers’ fault– so many people are focused on inflating their fan numbers on their pages, that they have no problem buying into these scams and enabling the cycle.
We’ve patiently explained to people that buying fans is never the way to go. Growing your fan base organically is the only way to cultivate a true community of people who care for your business, product, brand or service. Everybody nods and says they “get it,” but still, someone always gives in and forks over some money to a random scam agency to boost their fan numbers quickly.
The problem is that the influx in numbers is not only temporary, but it also doesn’t add any value to a business’s social media presence. Facebook official blog post even states:
“A Like that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a Page benefits no one …When a Page and fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific Page and engaging with that brand’s content.”
If you’ve bought fans in the past, don’t be surprised to see your fan count dipping in the near future. Personally, I’m ecstatic that Facebook is taking the initiative to weed out fake accounts—hopefully now people will focus on building quality relationships with real fans, instead of wasting their money on fake accounts from halfway across the world.
