Although Facebook seems to have given up on its attempt to link "popularity" with revenue. There are two new Facebook shenanigans going around lately.
1) Fake Likes: Facebook is making it appear like your friends have liked one of Facebook's corporate overlords. This was made obvious when my hippie friend was shown as having liked "Shell Oil" on my newsfeed. I thought this was quite odd. Next time I saw him, I asked him if he had a change of heart about the oil industry. "Of course not" he said. He was not happy at all about what I saw on Facebook. He gave me a long The-Dude-style rant. Good thing I asked right??
2) Redirecting Users: If you post a direct link to an article in a well-known newspaper, Fakebook will try to redirect you through its own "Facebook reader app" when clicking on it. For example, if you post an article such as:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/[rest of URL from the Washington Post]
The redirect will send you to:
https://apps.facebook.com/wpsocialreader/me/channels/read/content/xxxxx?utm_source=redirect&utm_medium=headline&utm_campaign=gen_redirect&denyRedirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwpsocialreader.washingtonpost.com%2Ffbwapolabs%2Fme%2Fredirect%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com/[rest of URL from the Washington Post][more Facebook crap here]
Not only is this a delay on network traffic, it is also a very shady practice. The user expected to go directly to the posted link, not a modified version of the link. Facebook is lowering itself to the level of a dishonest advertising website pretending to give away free MP3s. This said, I'm also assuming Facebook is trying to take credit for the clicks coming from Facebook users.
I'm going to agree with Sassy Starfish on this:
1) Fake Likes: Facebook is making it appear like your friends have liked one of Facebook's corporate overlords. This was made obvious when my hippie friend was shown as having liked "Shell Oil" on my newsfeed. I thought this was quite odd. Next time I saw him, I asked him if he had a change of heart about the oil industry. "Of course not" he said. He was not happy at all about what I saw on Facebook. He gave me a long The-Dude-style rant. Good thing I asked right??
2) Redirecting Users: If you post a direct link to an article in a well-known newspaper, Fakebook will try to redirect you through its own "Facebook reader app" when clicking on it. For example, if you post an article such as:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/[rest of URL from the Washington Post]
The redirect will send you to:
https://apps.facebook.com/wpsocialreader/me/channels/read/content/xxxxx?utm_source=redirect&utm_medium=headline&utm_campaign=gen_redirect&denyRedirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwpsocialreader.washingtonpost.com%2Ffbwapolabs%2Fme%2Fredirect%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com/[rest of URL from the Washington Post][more Facebook crap here]
Not only is this a delay on network traffic, it is also a very shady practice. The user expected to go directly to the posted link, not a modified version of the link. Facebook is lowering itself to the level of a dishonest advertising website pretending to give away free MP3s. This said, I'm also assuming Facebook is trying to take credit for the clicks coming from Facebook users.
I'm going to agree with Sassy Starfish on this:
