What not to ‘like’ about Facebook

last updated 8 January 2015

Dave Budge

Calgary Herald

Be careful what you “like”—it might just be part of the latest Facebook scam, said Dave Budge. You’ve probably noticed those annoying Facebook posts asking you to name 10 cities that don’t have an R in their names or posing some other vaguely intriguing but ultimately pointless challenge. Sometimes there’s even a tug at your heartstrings as you’re asked to “like” a post in support of some unimpeachable cause: “‘Like’ if you hate cancer,” “‘like’ if you hate bullying,” or “If I get enough ‘likes,’ my dad will quit drugs.” It turns out many of these posts are part of a clever scheme called “like farming.” Enterprising entrepreneurs set up a Facebook page with an enticing message, share it among themselves, and draw a big response among their Facebook friends. Then they sell the page to an advertiser, who gains access to tens of thousands of names and Facebook addresses to inundate with ads for some unrelated product or service. This isn’t what I signed up for. Facebook is supposed to be “a safe place to catch up with people we like, not a place to be distrustful of anything popular.” It’s bad enough that the social media giant has hollowed out the word “friend.” Sadly, “its exploitation by ‘like farmers’ erodes a bit more of our humanity.”