# Facebook "Likes" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342 "2024-12-30T13:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/1 "2024-12-30T13:26:07Z")
Every once in a while, someone I never heard of it “likes” one or more of my Facebook posts. This morning, I found 20 new “likes”, all given by a pretty young girl who lives in Las Vegas. Two questions: Why would someone do this? What is to be gained by it? And… do I need to delete her “likes”? I guess that’s three questions. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/2 "2024-12-30T13:31:20Z")
Trust me, that was unlikely to be a pretty young girl. If she is, she’s also a scammer. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/3 "2024-12-30T13:31:46Z")
It’s likely some type of scam account hoping to forge a connection with you. Either to gain followers on their own account for nefarious reasons or an attempt to scam you. See if ‘she’ eventually posts something like “Hi there, you seem really cool, please send me a friend request”. Which, at least IMO, screams BS since if someone wants to be your friend, they send you a friend request, not ask you to send them one. Sometimes they’ll do it because they’re targeting someone else in your friend circle and having these mutual friends will make the target more likely to assume they must know the person. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/4 "2024-12-30T13:48:35Z")
It’s likely a component of [engagement farming](https://metricool.com/what-is-engagement-farming/). Let’s say you want to boost one of your own posts, say, some terrible product you’re drop-shipping from ali express. You can pay money to the platform for ads, or you can trick the algorithm into thinking your post is organically popular. To do that, you create 1000 fake accounts, using profile pictures and basic demographic info you purchased on the dark web (this data is either culled from other social media sites or just generated with AI). You than have a bot log in with each of those 1000 accounts to like, comment, or share your post. Except… the algorithm recognizes that these are all brand new accounts of no value, and so disregards their engagement. Your post looks popular, but it’s obviously not _organically_ popular. So before you set your 1000 fake accounts to engage with you, you need to make them look “real.” That means having a certain number of friends, a certain account age, a reasonable daily usage rate interacting with non-bot accounts (this is where the likes you’re seeing come into play). The algorithm might still be suspicious, but it’s going to be a lot harder for it to figure out that these aren’t real engagements. Of course, creating the air of authenticity can take months, so you’re not actually going to do this yourself. Instead, you’re going to pay someone who’s already done this work for you. See also: [dead internet theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Internet_theory). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/5 "2024-12-30T14:07:06Z")
Sounds like you need to make your profile private. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/6 "2024-12-30T14:21:28Z")
I blocked this “person” and all the “likes” magically disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/7 "2024-12-30T19:20:07Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Trust me, that was unlikely to be a pretty young girl. > If she is, she’s also a scammer. :Like: 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/8 "2024-12-30T20:18:36Z")
I agree. If you are using facebook just to keep in touch with friends and family, go into privacy settings and configure everything so that only friends can see it. The only reasons (that I can think of) for keeping your posts visible to public are: - If it’s an account that exists to represent a business or some other public-facing organisation, or - If you want to make new, random, probably dangerous friends ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/9 "2024-12-30T21:34:38Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > :Like: 👍 Proof of my claim that the SDMB _does_ have a “Like” button, but it entails SEVEN keystrokes. Oh, the humanity! eta: not flipping shit at you, Lucas\_Jackson. I hate “like” buttons, think they’re lazy and moronic. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/10 "2024-12-30T22:04:36Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I hate “like” buttons, think they’re lazy and moronic. My post was made with tongue firmly in cheek, see thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/11 "2024-12-30T22:26:42Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > - If you want to make new, random, probably dangerous friends That’s what Twitter is for. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-likes/1012342/12 "2024-12-31T00:19:20Z")
That’s what ~~Twitter~~ alcohol is for.