Boost your online popularity by paying for "likes", retweets and followers on social media networks
By Benson Ang, The Sunday Times, 11 May 2014
Friendship is cheap, I recently discovered.
This week, in one day, I bought more than 1,500 friends on Facebook ($3) and 15,000 followers on Twitter ($14).
More than 4,200 people "liked" a photo I posted on Instagram ( $11) and another 2,000 people "liked" my silly petition on Facebook calling on the late American singer Elvis Presley to have a concert in Singapore ($2).
The total price of such instant popularity: $30.
Welcome to the murky world of social networking, where practically anything can be bought - friends, followers, subscribers, "likes", page views, even comments and retweets.
Besides Facebook and Twitter, it is happening on video-sharing platforms YouTube and Vine, and virtual mood board Pinterest too.
Two months ago, the winner of an online contest in Singapore involving Facebook "likes" admitted to trading currency from online game MapleStory for "likes".
He said he won the MapleStory items on his own merit and did not use money to purchase "likes".
The contest organisers, restaurant chain Poulet, let him keep the prize, which was a trip to Paris for two people..
But websites such as Swenzy, Social Yup and Seoclerks feature companies and individuals eagerly offering fake supporters for cash.
Internet security experts say the fake support comes from bots, which is short for "robots".
These are software applications programmed to run automated tasks in the background.
While they have been around for as long as computers and were previously used to generate spam and capture usernames and passwords, their more recent uses include generating fake social media profiles and likes.
Says Mr Chai Chin Loon, 50, chief operating officer of Assurity Trusted Solutions, an IT security firm: "Modern bots are generally good at emulating human interactions.
"With greater computational power, bots are able to process greater amount of data in order to make themselves more 'human-like'."
Indeed, some of my fake friends have profile photos and real-sounding names. Their profiles also listed their jobs and the universities they graduated from.
They behave like human beings, they share photos, write comments and invite me to play Candy Crush.
They hail from around the world including the United States, Holland, Denmark, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
Acquiring these fake friends is simple. Place an order online - US$1 (S$1.25) can buy you 500 Facebook friends - pay with a credit card or PayPal, and the notifications will come rolling in within minutes.
Service providers say this practice is rampant. So do bloggers and social media experts, although few are willing to point fingers.
People and companies do this to appear more popular than they really are and to influence public opinion.
Swenzy, a social media marketing company in the United States, says it has about 1,000 regular clients from Singapore. These business owners and individuals place orders every month, says Swenzy's founder and managing director, who wanted to be known as Mr Simon Z, 21.
The most popular service is buying Facebook "likes" on business pages, he says.
Adds the Russian who dropped out of school when he was 16: "Buying some followers will actually drive more followers, as it increases the profile of the page.
"Although this may seem dishonest, I see it as a powerful marketing strategy."
Companies with a strong social media presence say their fan base has grown organically and legitimately.
Says a spokesman for budget airline Scoot: "We do not condone the idea of acquiring Facebook fans through deceitful means."
Says Mr John Sinke, 48, assistant vice-president of digital marketing at Resorts World Sentosa: "We would never engage in the buying of followers or "likes" on social media platforms as it is not in the spirit of social media and would be detrimental to our social media efforts."
Scoot's Facebook page has more than 860,000 "likes" and Resorts World Sentosa's has more than 430,000 "likes".
Of the 10 bloggers and 10 businesses with social media accounts that SundayLife! interviewed, all said they do not buy supporters online.
Nonetheless, public relations companies say corporations and individuals might feel tempted to pay for some support on social media.
Mr Edwin Yeo, 46, general manager of public relations consultancy firm SPRG Singapore says bloggers depend on traffic to get funds and sponsorship, and petitions require numbers to demonstrate their following.
He adds: "People participating in online contests determined by popular vote would also want more 'likes' to win the contest."
To the layman, there does not seem to be a "sure-fire" method to prove someone bought friends or supporters.
Says Ms Rika Sharma, Singapore head of Social@Ogilvy, the social media division of Ogilvy & Mather: "The fake follower industry is so sophisticated now that you sometimes need a human eye to pick out the nuances between a fake account and that of someone who is not that active on social media."
Adds Ms Belinda Ang, 33, the director of thinkBIG Communications, a marketing firm whose core business is social media: "You can't really prove it unless the person admits to it."
Nonetheless, the experts suggest some tell-tale signs.
Mr Aloysius Cheang, 39, Asia-Pacific managing director of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, recommends messaging a suspected bot.
He says: "If it doesn't respond, it's probably a bot. Another way to tell is if someone else with the same photo or name tries to connect with you."
Says doctor-cum-food blogger Leslie Tay, 45: "Say the Prime Minister - arguably the most influential man in the country - has 300,000 'likes' and you have a million. One has to wonder where the 'likes' are coming from."
Full-time blogger Grace Tan, 27, who writes the business and lifestyle blog Working With Grace, says: "I've never felt tempted to buy followers.
"While the number of followers is important because some advertisers take this as a measurement of a blogger's influence, I don't think it is necessary to buy followers for this reason."
Facebook says it does not and has never permitted the purchase or sale of Facebook "likes".
Says its spokesman: "We investigate and monitor 'like'-vendors and if we find that they are selling fake 'likes' or generating conversations from fake profiles, we will quickly block them from our platform."
Facebook friends: 4,000 for $6
Facebook “likes”: 1,500 for $1
Facebook comments: 20 for $1
Twitter followers: 5,000 for $5
Twitter retweets: 500 for $1
Instagram followers: 1,000 for $4
Instagram “likes”: 1,000 for $3
Instagram comments: 20 for $1
YouTube views: 11,000 for $6
YouTube subscribers: 100 for $1
YouTube comments: 60 for $2
Vine followers: 1,000 for $1
Vine “likes”: 50 for $5
Website views: 16,000 for $3
* Sources: Swenzy, Fiverr, Social Yup and Seoclerks
Red flags
Signs that someone has bought online supporters:
1. The person has a sudden torrent of new Facebook friends over a very short period of time.
2. Most of the “likes” on that person’s page do not come from people in the same city as them.
3. Friends on their list do not respond when you send them messages.
4. Some friends on their list have the same profile photos or names.
Source: Social media experts Edvarcl Heng and Ori Sasson, and cyber security expert Aloysius Cheang
Getting paid for blogging
How do paid posts affect a blog's credibility?
By Bryna Singh, The Sunday Times, 11 May 2014
With bloggers reviewing everything from hotels to beauty products to baby strollers these days, brands are willing to pay for such seemingly spontaneous word of mouth.
Enter the blog post-advertorial: sponsored blog entries involving free or discounted trips and products, and around which an entire ecosystem has sprung up - from bloggers' agents to companies that liaise with and supply bloggers with goodies.
Public relations firms say that as social media marketing takes off, they now draft formal agreements between their clients and bloggers: A typical contract covers the required number of posts and pictures, and the types of social media channels that will be used by the blogger, in exchange for payment in cash or kind.
Yet, with paid blog posts becoming increasingly common, surfing through blog reviews becomes more complicated too.
Housewife Jenny Tan, 32, who looks at food blogs regularly, finds that she constantly has to evaluate what she reads: "If the blogger is supplied a particular food item and is paid to use it, then how credible are the recipes, since he is obliged to say the item is good?"
So does a paid post, which is not flagged clearly by the blogger as such, affect a blog's credibility? Would one feel obliged to write only good things if the stuff is free? SundayLife! asks these questions and more of some prominent local bloggers:
The bloggers' market
Blogger Wendy Cheng, aka Xiaxue, a former personal assistant to a doctor, started blogging full-time in 2005. She now has about 40,000 daily visitors to her blog, and says she can make a five-figure sum in good months.
Ms Cheng, 30, says she used to approach brands she liked and offer them coverage. These days, however, clients such as Subaru and L'Oreal go to her. She receives up to five requests for event coverage a day.
Similarly, full-time blogger Brad Lau, 27, who goes by the online moniker ladyironchef and runs the site with his fiancee Melody Yap, 25, says he receives so many invitations to go for free tastings that he no longer accepts them.
"We need to prioritise our paying clients," he says. He does campaigns with clients, which he declines to name, marketing their products with their approved messages.
His Ladyironchef blog, started seven years ago, gets an average of 2.5 million page views a month.
Nuffnang, a blog community and blogger management agency, was set up in Singapore in 2007 and helps its network of about 60,000 blogs monetise their space.
Says Ms Yang Hui Wen, Nuffnang's regional director: "Advertisers know that bloggers' influence and opinions may be valuable tools that they can incorporate into their plans to generate online chatter, spark opinions and create an image for their brand.
"Blog marketing is almost always in the marketing plan now."
SundayLife! spoke to 10 bloggers, who all say they charge for advertorials, ranging from hundreds of dollars to five-figure sums.
Ms Cheng says she used to charge $300 for an advertorial, but now commands about $4,000 for such a post.
She adds, however, that if the cost of what she is offered is much more than her fees, then she may waive her charges.
Mr Daniel Ang of DanielFoodDiary.com says his popularity has allowed him to revise his fees upwards five times over the last three years. He usually charges a four-figure sum for advertorials. His blog gets 1.2 million page views a month.
Some consumers are uncomfortable with how some bloggers who used to blog because they are passionate about a topic now accept payment. They feel that objectivity is compromised as a result.
Says marketing support specialist Magdalene Lim, 26, who reads beauty blogs every other day: "A blogger could be reviewing many skincare products at the same time and deem them all good.
"But how can she tell what her skin is really benefiting from, since she is using all the products simultaneously?"
Civil servant Chloe Lee, 27, who reads beauty and food blogs every day, asks: "Where is the reality in the testing when you are paid for the post? You have to say something good about the product, right? Would you be mean about a free lunch?"
Professor Mohan Dutta, head of the National University of Singapore's department of communications and new media in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, says the best case scenario is where a blogger writes about a product or service without receiving payment.
"This creates a space for objective review", he says, adding that it prevents any room for bias.
However, Nuffnang's Ms Yang says that bloggers have the editorial freedom to air their experiences.
"We pre-empt companies by telling them that reviews, if any, good or bad, will have to be at the discretion of the blogger," she says.
Bloggers say that if they accept payment, it is for work done.
Says Mr Lau: "This is my career; it's what I do for a living. You would not go to a newspaper or a magazine and expect free advertising.
"If I can do something I love and get paid for it, why not?"
Mr Daniel Ang, who works full-time as a polytechnic mass communications lecturer, says there are "labour costs" involved for bloggers.
"I spend three to four hours at an event and then another three to four hours editing and researching before my post goes up. That is about seven hours worth of work.
"If I am to spend such effort helping a company, some monetary compensation would be helpful," he says.
There are bloggers who alternate between accepting payment in cash and in kind.
Blogger Kelvin Ang of three-year-old family blog cheekiemonkie.net has taken his family on trips sponsored by Hong Kong Disneyland to check out the theme park and by milk powder brand Friso to Amsterdam. He says he does not know the worth of these trips, as the companies did not reveal the cost to him.
Mr Ang, 37, a financial planner, says that for certain sponsored trips: "I decide whether to charge or not, on a case-by-case basis."
Bloggers interviewed say they do not write about a product they do not like.
Ms Cheng says if the experience or product was very bad, she even refunds the money she was paid.
Mr Daniel Ang says he only invoices clients after his blog post is up and he also does not feel the need to write a glowing review just because he was paid for it.
"I think it's important to be truthful, so I do put in negative comments and highlight areas the company can improve on," he says.
A question of credibility
Accounts manager Jasmine Lim, 35, says she often realises only at the end of a post that it was an advertorial.
She adds: "Sometimes, the font used in the declaration is smaller than what is used in the rest of the post and I almost miss it. I find that somewhat sneaky," she says.
The bloggers SundayLife! spoke to say that they do not try to hide the fact that a post is sponsored.
Ms Cheng, for instance, says she makes it clear on her blog when posts are advertorials. These are flagged and labelled at the beginning with the word "advertorial" - something she has been doing since 2005.
"It's my reputation on the line," she says. "If I get found out that it was a paid post, people will not believe me anymore."
While it is not unheard of in the industry for bloggers to not declare that a product or trip was sponsored, Mr Kelvin Ang says to fail to declare any sponsorship of a post is to not be "open and upfront" with readers.
Mr Daniel Ang says he always rejects requests from companies to omit the word "advertorial" from a post, so as to not make it "obvious" that they had sponsored it.
"Money can't buy integrity," he says.
Mr Lau, too, indicates at the bottom of his posts with the words "this post is brought to you by" if the post is paid for.
"Transparency is very important to us," he says.
Prof Dutta says such declarations ought to be placed right at the top, "so that readers reading further on are already sensitised to the conflicts of interest".
Personal codes of conduct
Parenting blogger Meiling Wong-Chainani, 42, who has been blogging for the past two years at Universal Scribbles and has about 20,000 visitors a month, says she returns products for review if she is uncertain how safe they are for children. "I need to be very careful and take responsibility for what I write about," she says.
Agreeing, Ms Cheng says she does not write about things that she does not like or believe in.
She adds: "I would never write about cigarettes, as I am against smoking. Once, I rejected an offer to try sex toys. I am not comfortable talking about such topics on my blog."
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