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n2doc

(47,953 posts) Thu Jun 19, 2014, 08:18 AM Jun 2014

Harvard Has 3.3 Million Facebook Fans And 'About Three Million Of These Are Fakes'

Harvard University is the most popular higher education institution on Facebook. It has 3.3 million "likes." This isn't surprising, it's one of the most famous universities worldwide and it's widely regarded as one of the best, perhaps the best.

But according to Lenny Teytelman, founder of ZappyLab, a company that makes apps for research scientists, about 3 million of those likes are probably fakes, or likes generated by fake Facebook users who are trying to make their Facebook accounts look legit by populating them with bogus interests.

We contacted Harvard and Facebook for comment. Harvard did not respond; Facebook declined comment.
Of course, Harvard is an international name and it is not unexpected that Harvard would attract likes globally. It's not improbable that those likes could be real. Notably, Teytelman doesn't offer proof that the likes are fake — so let's take this with a pinch of salt.

Teytelman's claim is based on the fact many of the people who say they like Harvard live nowhere near Harvard. In fact, the most engaged Harvard fans on Facebook are from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Dhaka is the notorious home of many click farms who sell fake likes for money.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fake-likes-on-harvards-facebook-page-2014-6#ixzz355T6MV2u

3 replies

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Harvard Has 3.3 Million Facebook Fans And 'About Three Million Of These Are Fakes' (Original Post) n2doc Jun 2014 OP

What Do YOU KNOW???............"Sell fake likes for money" how can that be???? Stuart G Jun 2014 #1

Daily Kos has over a million user accounts, of which probably 3/4 are fake. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Jun 2014 #2

This is a really stupid article frazzled Jun 2014 #3

Stuart G

(38,420 posts)

1. What Do YOU KNOW???............"Sell fake likes for money" how can that be????

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Thu Jun 19, 2014, 08:26 AM

Jun 2014

Would anyone do that for marketing purposes?

....Yes indeed. I hadn't heard of that one, but I believe it......

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)

2. Daily Kos has over a million user accounts, of which probably 3/4 are fake.

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Thu Jun 19, 2014, 08:35 AM

Jun 2014

Starting last May or so, accounts were being churned out at an accelerated rate, and a quick analysis of the new accounts showed that they had a very similar sort of pattern to the user handle, avatars if uploaded that were all generic stock photos, and usually links to spammy websites in the profile info. That lasted for many months until admin figured out how to block them, I guess. But after account 280k or so, it seemed like 9/10 of the new accounts were of that fake kind. They never seemed to get used, so they were probably auto-generated for the same sort of 'fake persona' filler.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)

3. This is a really stupid article

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Thu Jun 19, 2014, 09:12 AM

Jun 2014

What is a "fake like" anyway? Why would you need to live near Harvard to "like" it? In fact (and having lived in the area), most people who live in Cambridge and environs, who are not associated with Harvard, DETEST it because it owns all the property and pays no taxes. The town-gown relations there are horrible.

Harvard is the most well-known educational institution in the world. Of course millions of people as far away as Singapore or La Paz may press a "like" button for it on Facebook. What possible earthly significance does that have? And who's to say they don't like Harvard? They may like the idea of Harvard, they may like the idea that people think they like Harvard ... but that is not what I'd call "fake."

Who cares about "likes" on Facebook?

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