Newsflash – False Clicks From Facebook!

This breaking news from The New York Times Bit Blog might become a big deal in the coming weeks. If that happens, it may cause some confusion and caution around activity in social media marketing, especially for the small business person. So let’s break it down.

When you peel back a layer, it’s clear this should not stop you from pursuing social media to grow your business.

First, let’s clarify and determine if this issue is impacting paid media or earned media on Facebook. This controversy around “false clicks” is all about PAID media (paying for ads on Facebook) vs. EARNED media (the word of mouth, organic brand amplification you will enjoy with an active social presence without paying for ads).

This has no impact on your Facebook earned media activities whatsoever – so you could stop reading here and just continue as planned or continue reading to get some more background.

Still here? Great – so what’s the issue with the paid ads anyway?

The NYT story reports that about 80% of clicks from paid Facebook ads are fake – generated by robotic programs (aka – bots).

Fake / bot clicks are nothing new. Google has faced this same issue for over a decade with it’s own sponsored search ads. Facebook has dealt with this problem for years as well.

Why does this happen? Well – you have likely heard the old saying – “there are 2 things certain in life – “Death and Taxes”.

There’s actually three and #3 is Internet Hackers. Whenever there is a “pay for performance” opportunity the bad guys are going to find a way to game the system. In this case – they are gaming Facebook and sending false clicks.

Why?

Could be anything from testing some new “black hat” Internet trick they plan to deploy to just doing it because they can. Who knows.

Peeling back the layer further – the company that released this “study” to the New York Times is also upset with Facebook for basically holding their request to change their Facebook Page Company Name hostage in return for more advertising spend.

Oh how the plot thickens!

Now – if you are thinking about trying some Facebook paid advertising – then this whole story should definitely be considered as a point of caution.

But in terms of your Facebook and social media presence this incident does not mean much if anything at all. Unless, perhaps, you’re a Facebook stockholder in which case this would be more bad news for the company post IPO

So don’t get distracted and stay the course. The earned media benefit from an active and vibrant Facebook Page and community remains critical to your growth.