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You?ve seen those pictures posted on Facebook ?type ?move?into the comments and watch what happens? or ?If I get a million likes my dadwill get me a car.?? They seem innocentenough, but they are big business, and you are not doing yourself any favors ifyou like or comment.
The classic example is a colorful picture of a prism withthe image from the cover of Pink Floyd?s Dark Side of the Moon album in it. It?saccompanied buy the caption: ?OMG it really works ? Step 1: Click on the 
Or at least you think nothing happens.? But your activity has now spread this imageand the page into the news feed of all your friends.
Like Farming
It?s called Like Farming. Here?s how it works. Someone createsa page and starts posting photos inspirational quotes or other innocentcontent. You like the page and it now shows up regularly in your newsfeed. Anytimeyou interact with a post, that activity shows up in your friends? news feeds.The more likes the page gets, the more it shows up. The more comments eachpicture gets, the more power the page gets in the Facebook newsfeed algorithm.And that makes it more and more visible.
The social engineering of these sites is impressive, stimulatingpictures like the Pink Floyd image described above or moving stories of?causes? that need your likes for support. The most famous of these revolvedaround a girl called ?Mallory?
"This is my sister Mallory. She has Down syndrome (sic)and doesn't think she's beautiful. Please like this photo so I can show herlater that she truly is beautiful." But there is no Mallory. The picture is of a girl named Katiewhose mother is horrified that her daughter?s image is being used for thescam.
Scammers Are MakingMoney Off Your Likes
So why would the owners of these fan pages go to suchlengths to scam us into liking? Because there?s money to be made from them.
When the page gets enough fans (a hundred thousand or more)the owner might start placing ads on the page. Those ads show up in yournewsfeed. They could be links to an app, a game, or a service they want you tobuy. It could be a ?recommendation? for a product on Amazon where the pageowner gets a commission for every purchase made through the link. Or morenefariously, the page owner could be paid to spread malware by linking out tosites that install viruses on your computer for the purposes of identity theft.?Bottom line: access to your newsfeed islucrative.
[Related: Why (and How) to Turn Off SocialCam]
Fan Pages For Sale
Just as a magazine that sells ads, these pages are abusiness, and they can be bought and sold just like any other business. Onlinemessage board, Warriorforum.com listed multiple sites for sale like this page with almost 500,0000 fansof hamburgers. Price tag to buy the site: $5000. Another site about cuddling has over a millionfans and was listed for sale on Warrior Forum for $7000. Many of these postingson Warrior Forum come and go for fear that Facebook will find out about themand take the sites down. For example, I found this Friends TV show page for salefor $8500 but the Warrior Forum listing has since been removed. Thispage has 1.8 million likes and posts a note right on Facebook stating it?sfor sale ? ?no price listed ? ?just a warning against ?low offers.?
A spokesperson for Facebook says selling pages isspecifically against the terms of service, and any page that is sold or engagesin fraudulent behavior can be removed. But clearly this is a cat and mouse game,with Like Farms popping up on a regular basis.
How To UnlikeIf you?ve liked something and now regret it, you can unlike it. Go to your profile,choose ?more? button and choose ?likes? from the drop down menu ? then?Unlike.?
If you have friends who are over-liking on scammy posts,share this on your Facebook Page so they?ll get the message.
[Related: Hidden Dangers of Penny Auctions]
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