There seems to be yet another resurgence of those awful viral posts -- you know the ones I mean: I bet you cant think of a country that contains the letter E. And hundreds of thousands of people say I can too! You thought I couldnt, but I can! It needs to be said: These posts are not just idiotic -- although they are undoubtedly that as well -- but frequently they are scams. When you comment on such a post (Chile! France! Israel! I thought of THREE OF THEM!), the original post spreads to the timelines of your friends. In the case of radio stations, all of whom seem utterly addicted to these kinds of posts, the result is free, spammy advertising. In other cases, the point of the post is to attract as many Likes and Shares as possible -- because those Likes and Shares can be monetized. As CNN put it in an article earlier this year: Once the page creators have piled up hundreds of thousands of likes and shares, theyll strip the page and promote something else, like products that they get a commission for selling. Or, they may turn around and sell the page through black-market websites to someone who does the same. Granted, this is not a scam that takes money directly out of your pocket. But it may result in more pollution appearing in your newsfeed, as the original poster starts advertising to you. And anyway, why would you want to participate in something with such a plain ulterior motive? Next time a post bets you cant think of a movie title that includes the letter S, say to yourself, Of course I can, but why do I need to prove it to you?
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:57:26 +0000
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