It will be interesting to see how social media sites like Facebook and Twitter maintain governance in controlling unwanted exploitation from bottom-feeders like Leon Hill, founder of uSocial, an “online marketing” company based in Australia that has — as of September 16 — begun selling friends, fans and followers to anyone with a valid credit card.
For just $654.30 you can buy 5,000 Facebook friends. Or, $229 buys 5,000 Twitter followers. Who would’ve thought tapping into social media could be so easy?
After trawling Facebook users by criteria such as age, location and interests, uSocial recommends potential friends to companies that can purchase online and contact them directly. And how does Facebook feel about that? A spokesperson for the company has issued a statement to the media emphasizing these are not legitimate friends and that they are considering different options, one being to bar uSocial from the site.
That isn’t deterring Mr. Hill, who claims early customers include the Korean Department of Tourism and the Mormon Church. I guess blasting out spam emails isn’t getting the results they want.
Prior to the launch of its new Friends For Sale program, uSocial was selling votes on aggregator websites like Digg, to determine which stories appear on the front page. That is until Digg sent them a Cease and Desist letter.
Needless to say, uSocial doesn’t have many friends of its own.
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