'VirtualBagel' Leaves Bad Taste For Social Ads

Facebook's History: From Dorm To IPO Darling

How much should advertisers like Facebook "likes?" That is a question more organizations will likely be asking themselves after an investigation by the BBC suggests that they may be wasting their money by trying to gain as many likes as possible.

It is assumed that any user who likes something on Facebook—be it a brand page, a comment, a photo, and so on—is interested and wants to be engaged somehow, maybe to the point of even buying something. Liking, say, Wholly Guacamole's Facebook page provides users with company updates and coupons. A like also provides Wholly Guacamole with increased exposure, as all the Facebook friends of the person who liked the brand page will be alerted, and they just might like Wholly Guacamole too. Facebook charges organizations to show advertisements designed to attract more likes.

There's more to it than that, of course, but it's become pretty standard operating procedure when it comes to brand marketing and advertising on Facebook: The more likes a brand has, the more successful it is.

Or is it?

A BBC investigation, conducted by BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, indicates that many Facebook likes may be bogus.

[ Ever wish you could do more than just "like" something on Facebook? Here are a few suggestions. Read 9 Facebook Buttons We 'Want' To See. ]

After being contacted by a social media marketing professional who said his clients were becoming suspicious that their Facebook ads weren't reaching "real people," the BBC launched an unscientific investigation. It created a Facebook page for a phony company called VirtualBagel. The page received many likes, with a disproportionate amount coming from Egypt and the Philippines, as opposed to the United States and the United Kingdom, according to the BBC story. It also seemed highly likely that many of the users who liked the VitualBagel page were misrepresenting themselves in some way.

Facebook has said that as many as 6% of its 900 million-plus users might be misrepresenting themselves in their profiles.

Of course, all of this is important for the organizations that are increasingly relying on Facebook and other social media sites as advertising and marketing platforms, but it is also important in light of Facebook's disappointing IPO and its struggle to get a handle on providing an effective ad platform, especially on mobile. The majority of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising. It will be interesting to hear what Facebook has to say when, as a newly public company, it releases its financial results on July 26.

How much weight do you put on Facebook likes? Are they losing their luster? Please comment below or write me at [email protected].

Follow Deb Donston-Miller on Twitter at @debdonston.

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