Facebook cracks down on fake "Likes"

Facebook Inc is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.

Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.

"Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes," Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.

"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 post continued.

Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time - a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social network, which has 955 million users.

Eminem's new record: More than 60 million Facebook 'Likes'

               Eminem is the first person in the world to receive more than 60 million Facebook Likes.
Eminem has more Facebook fans than any other living person, and this week he set a new record: 60 million Facebook Likes. The 39-year-old rapper from Detroit is currently gaining some 24,000 Likes on average per day. The runner-up for the position is Rihanna, who is gaining 26,000 Likes daily.
Putting aside the totals for a second, the growth rates alone are astonishing. One has to wonder how many of these Facebook Likes are being made by fake accounts.

If Rihanna overtakes Eminem, she'll be avenging Lady Gaga, whom Eminem passed earlier last year. That's right: it's been a very slow race. I hinted Rihanna may pass Eminem back in February 2011, and it still hasn't happened.
At the time of writing, here are the top 10 Facebook Pages, courtesy of App Data (via All Facebook):

1. Facebook for Every Phone with 116.82 million Likes.
2. Facebook with 70.21 million Likes.
3. Texas HoldEm Poker with 63.80 million Likes.
4. YouTube with 61.22 million Likes.
5. Eminem with 60.08 million Likes.
6. Rihanna with 59.37 million Likes.
7. The Simpsons with 53.76 million Likes.
8. Shakira with 53.35 million Likes.
9. Lady Gaga with 53.00 million Likes.
10. Michael Jackson with 51.16 million Likes.

I'm always amused when reminded that the official Facebook for Every Phone Facebook Page is the most popular Facebook Page of all, even more popular than the official Facebook Page for Facebook itself. Sorry, that was quite a thoughtful.
Anyway, back to Marshall Mathers. The rapper probably doesn't realize he made social networking history this week. Then again, that might be a good thing. His street cred would probably take a hit if he took a second to acknowledge his Facebook popularity. Source-CNET

by Emil Protalinski

July 31, 2012 1:02 AM PDT