Derek Muller, creator of the popular Veritasium posted a video several months ago breaking down how there is essentially no difference between buying Facebook likes from a farm and buying advertising from Facebook.
After having this video was sent to him from a variety of sources, Facebook advertising expert Jon Loomer felt the need to respond to some of the charges made by Muller in a detailed blog post. Muller made some very good points, but they’re not necessarily in Facebook’s favor.
Muller’s points were essentially:
- The likes he recieved came from accounts in developing countries
- The accounts also liked everything else under the sun – nobody goes out of their way to “Like” brillo pads
- Engagement actually dropped following his bazillion new fake likes
- He created a page that no normal person would like, and it got likes anyway after he shelled over money to Facebook
Loomer’s response was, in a nutshell: your advertising is bad and you should feel bad. He pointed out that he had made metric tons of money and had lots of success, but he didn’t actually deny that the likes Muller got were about as genuine as a campaign promise from a politician. Loomer points out a variety of ways that you can avoid the fake Likeapalooza, but that still means that Facebook advertising can be on par with giving your bank account information a Nigerian prince who needs your help.
