# What is the purpose of these Facebook posts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653 "2021-08-28T01:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/1 "2021-08-28T01:49:43Z")
If you have a Facebook account, no doubt you’ve seen the type of posts like “One gotta go”, “You can live here but you have to give up \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ for a year”, or some sort of misleading picture math problem. These posts get shared over and over or get thousands and thousands of replies. Why do people create these to begin with? No one actually cares if waffles are your least favorite breakfast food and no one cares if you can do arithmetic. I’m sure that the answer has to do with money, some nefarious purpose, or both but I can’t see how getting someone to share the posts is a money making proposition for the creator. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/2 "2021-08-28T01:54:24Z")
Data mining. The more they know about you the more they can sell you something or the information to someone else. Maybe guess your security question someday when you forget you told the world you disliked waffles. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/3 "2021-08-28T02:50:09Z")
But for “math” questions, what can they learn? Do they get access to every respondent’s profile information? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/4 "2021-08-28T03:19:34Z")
Sometimes a post is just a post. It’s interesting to see that some of your friends would give up sushi while others will give up beer. There’s been order of operations math ‘gotcha’ questions since before Zuckerberg was born. ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/5 "2021-08-28T03:25:58Z")
Doesn’t matter what your “answer” is…by responding 2the post you allow FB to gather your data. Here’s a better, more in=depth explanation: > **[Facebook and Data Mining: Is Anything Private? | Datamation](https://www.datamation.com/big-data/facebook-and-data-mining-is-anything-private/)** > > Facebook knows us. Exceptionally well. Facebook tracks who we talk to, what we talk about, what we like, what we're interested in. It tracks where we are The final line from -^ says it all : “Facebook may be where your friends are, but it isn’t your friend.” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/6 "2021-08-28T04:14:09Z")
They are often for making a FB account look active and busy, so they can sell it to someone for various purposes. Accounts get renamed after being sold, and look busy and active, making people trust them more. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/7 "2021-08-28T12:10:20Z")
The origins are probably data mining. Why people share them is probably along the lines of the old “Ginger vs Mary Ann” type conversations we’ve all had. It can be fun with friends but I agree the zillions on FB are annoying. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/8 "2021-08-28T15:04:32Z")
I’m not sure if it still happens, but it used to be the case that creating a lot of engagement with such posts made the account posting them valuable for resale so a business (or a spammer) could take it over and put their own posts under the noses of lots of people who had engaged with previous stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/9 "2021-08-28T21:52:21Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Sometimes a post is just a post. It’s interesting to see that some of your friends would give up sushi while others will give up beer. None of my friends would give up beer. And I agree that it’s most likely for data mining. I think FB probably mines all of the posts out there. I post about my cats - I start seeing cat-related ads. I post about the rain - I get an ad for umbrellas. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/10 "2021-09-01T15:52:08Z")
Yup. Especially the ones where it’s “name a state that doesn’t have an O in it.” Perfect marks. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-these-facebook-posts/949653/11 "2021-09-01T18:06:55Z")
One of the cleverer versions I’ve seen-- and I mean that in the sense of effectively propagating itself, not actually being interesting-- is the one that shows some luxury resort with the caption “you can live here free for a year but you have to live with your 2nd @; would you do it?” Everyone who shares it not only tags someone, but tags someone they tag frequently, dragging them into it in a much more active and engaging way than simply posting. It’s like the Delta variant of these stupid memes.