The mass-deleting of fake likes and fans has officially begun on Facebook. This is something that was reported several months back, but as of now it’s gone into full swing.
Something that Facebook should do is employ the use of deferrment, and if they haven’t done so, they should.
On most major webmail systems, there are algorithms in place where if you try to send off too much mail or do anything else the system deems “spammy”, it will purposely delay delivery of the mail you send. In your account, the mail will have appeared to send normally, but in reality it’s on a “waiting list” of sorts before it gets sent.
On YouTube, that site has been employing the use of deferred view counts and “thumb-ups” for some time now to thwart anyone who would attempt to game the system for inflated popularity.
Facebook should be using deferrment as an anti-spam countermeasure just like webmail and YouTube does, because it’s extremely effective. An example of how this would work is if someone “likes” a page, yes it will show as such in their account, but the actual like will not have taken place publicly until some time later when the system deems the account isn’t a fake.
Why does this work? Because the spammer doesn’t get the instant gratification that his spams are actually working. Spammers typically do take the easiest possible path to get numbers punched up as quickly as possible, and when that doesn’t happen, many will simply abandon the process.
Webmail and YouTube have made this work well, so why can’t Facebook?
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