Facebook Cracks Down On Counterfeit Likes To Improve Advertising

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One of the major challenges confronting Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is to prove that its site is a credible advertising platform. The social networking giant is experiencing difficulty in encouraging advertisers to place advertisements 0n its website, despite its 955 million registered users. Many advertisers question the integrity of Facebook’s website due to fake user accounts and “likes” on the fan pages of companies.

Facebook Cracks Down On Counterfeit Likes To Improve Advertising

Facebook finally stepped up to resolve the problem. The social networking giant is deleting all suspicious “likes” to improve the integrity of its site. According to the company, the number of likes to any given page in the site will decrease by 1 percent. A note from Facebook Security reads:

 “On average, less than 1% of Likes on any given Page will be removed, providing they and their affiliates have been abiding by our terms. These newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes. While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes.”

The social networking giant emphasized that it did not allow any individual or entity to buy or sell Facebook Likes. Its primary intention is to connect the users with their favorite brands.

In addition, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) pointed out that the site was built on the principle of “real identity”, and its objective is to extend it to pages for the benefit of users and brand owners. The company further stated that its current improvements in its integrity system, as well as the measurement of fan accounts and demographics for pages will be more accurate.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also encourage Page owners to examine any business entity offering marketing services to build their Facebook presence to prevent fraud.

A related report from NDTV Profit cited a comment from Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at Altimeter Group, comparing Facebook’s effort in removing suspicious likes to the Federal Reserve’s crack down on counterfeit currency. Owyang said, “In their currency, Facebook is playing the Federal Reserve, to take the counterfeit currency off the market to ensure that there’s quality in the marketplace.”

It is imperative for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to prove to advertisers that its site is a credible and valuable advertising platform, and that it can connect consumers to their brands. At present, Facebook’s shareholders are uncertain about its long-term profitability.

Facebook’s stock price kept falling. During the afterhours trading on Friday, FB shares were down by 5.4 percent to $18.06 per share.

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