On a serious note, if you’re investing in Facebook ads as part of your marketing campaign, you expect a return on investment. Think about the possibility that after spending this money, you find that 50 percent of the clicks are fake, it’s no laughing matter.
After going public, Facebook’s first quarterly earnings report late last year revealed that more than 83 million Facebook users are fake. The company also stated that it has 955 million active monthly members along with a total of 543 million active monthly members using mobile devices. These are serious numbers, but there’s one last tidbit of information from Facebook. It seems that of these accounts, 8.7 are probably fake.
Facebook and Sparky Too!!
Some of these fake accounts have been created for Fluffy, Pretty Boy and Fido. You guessed it, your sweet dog, cat, or bird can actually have his, or her own Facebook page. And of course, with a little help from mom, or dad, Fluffy, Pretty Boy, and Fido can LIKE pages. Now, the LIKES probably won’t be for Revlon lipstick or the Knicks, but more along the lines of pet food and toys. There are tons of pet lovers on Facebook who are totally besotted by their pets. So, to them, there’s nothing wrong with creating Facebook pet pages.
To add to this, there’s the duplicate individual accounts, the duplicate accounts created by people working in social media for clients with Facebook accounts, mimes, and let’s not forget the spammer crowd and their accounts. The most creative fakes originate from a Brazilian website that’s willing to spruce up your lovelife by creating a luscious girlfriend profile, romantic posts and the status update for only $39.00 for thirty days. Given the economy if money is an issue, there’s a less expensive Fake Facebook Girlfriend version for only $19.00.
To date, there are no fake Facebook boyfriends, but the website indicates that this is in the works. This could definitely make you look like a player.
The social networking giant has acknowledged that their metrics for the actual numer of fake accounts is not fail proof. According to the BBC, 80 percent of the clicks on Facebook’s targeted advertising may be as a result of bots (also known as fake users). Needless to say, advertisers are not amused.
Where’s the Concentration of Fake Acconts?
Some industry sources believe that the percentage of fake accounts in the United States, and other developed countries such as Australia, are much lower than in developing nations such as Turkey, or Indonesia. Bear in mind that these opinions are simply estimates.
And, then there’s security. If a real person’s Facebook account is cloned and tweaked so that it looks very authentic, it becomes a perfect path for hackers to ‘back door’ into your account and gain access to your friends, and social-networking life. It’s not a good idea to list your phone number, address or email even if you’re a security guru.