How you are helping Facebook scammers

'How many faces can you see?'

'Like if you see the monkey'

'Type 'jump' and see what happens'

Hands up if you have seen these updates pop up on Facebook and wondered what their game was? Well, I'll tell you.... selling Facebook pages at $200 a pop is what it's all about - if you can come up with one of these a day, you could clear $1000 for a five-day week.

Let's face it, if you think about it, typing 'jump' in a comment is not going to do anything on a Facebook page - if you read the comments, half of the them are from disgruntled people complaining that it didn't work, I have news for you - it works perfectly.

It works perfectly if it is your task to build up likes and comments on a Facebook page, these are Facebook 'currency' making page updates appear higher in news feeds. When the page gets tens of thousands of 'likes' and comments over a few short days, the details of the page are changed and someone buys a ready-made highly-ranking fanpage. By clicking these links, liking and commenting, you spread the net around your friends aiding and abetting cyber-criminals in their quest for easy money.

The worst of it is that, while some of the pictures are funny, such as the bear creeping up on the man.. others are emotive pictures and statuses such as 'like if you want to fight cancer' or a picture of a disabled child, a disfigured person, an injured animal - imploring you to click, comment and 'like', exploiting the picture, and exploiting you the Facebook user.

OK no-one gets hurt, but if you are one of those that complains about unwanted news feeds and invasive Facebook activity, just make sure you are not falling for this scam. If we stop clicking, it stops happening, as simple as that!

Linking in with Twitter

I have started my quest in earnest to properly link in with Twitter, embracing the social phenomenon that many of us just don't 'get'...
My first step was to dust off my old (largely unused) Twitter account and give it an overhaul in the form of a new background in keeping with my new colour schemes, and a new description in my profile. I have linked the account in with a Facebook account and am in the process of signing up to various Twitter directories.
My aim is to twitter a link to a well-written article and see what response is forth-coming. The article will be about something I have noticed about Facebook - that should at least be a subject close to the heart of the twittersphere. I haven't actually decided where to place the article yet, but it will probably be either on this blog or possibly as a Facebook status update - maybe both??
I have about 14 directories to sign up to and am currently about half-way through. I am not sure that I can make a big enough impact straight 'out of the blocks' so to speak, but I have seen great results with other sharing services such diggit etc.. so maybe if I get it right, the traffic will follow.
I am also halfway through an overhaul of Livewyre.NET (all part of the plan) - I have brought about half the content over to a Wordpress platform, and will be looking to have this completed by the end of the month - not only getting all the content across, but re-writing 'tired' articles to make them more punchy and relevant. I only wish I had more time to devote to this - it would be nice to think that I can just sit back when it's all done and watch the traffic build up - but experience tells me that it is not usually THAT easy!