Pay for pals?

NOT ENOUGH “FRIENDS” ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER? WHY NOT BUY SOME MORE?

One of the Oxford University Press’s words of 2009 was “defriend”, coined to explain somebody jettisoning a Facebook “friend”. For many people, however, that’s the opposite of what they want. Feeling lonely and without enough friends on Twitter or Facebook, more and more people are resorting to buying blocks of fake pals.

Usocial is an Australian net marketing company which offers Facebook and Twitter packages. They are targeted at companies. As the Facebook page explains, “Since the inception of Facebook, people have been feverishly trying to get as many friends or fans as they can in order to market their product or services to.”

However, according to Usocial’s chief executive Leon Hill, business from individuals boomed during the holiday period. “Social networking sites can be cruel if you’re unloved. They show exactly how popular you are.” He went on:

“People are buying pals so they have more mates to chat to, rather than sitting alone on their PCs.” – Leon Hill, Usocial

Facebook’s lawyers are reportedly trying to shut the service down. Indeed, at the time of writing, buying Facebook “friends” rather than “fans” has been suspended on Usocial’s website. But Twitter “friends” can still be bought at a mere $87 per 1,000, with as many as 100,000 offered at a discount price of $3,479.

The idea of paying to make yourself look more popular seems rather sad. However, despite The Sun and The Daily Telegraph carrying the story, it may of course be untrue or wildly exaggerated. As we’ve seen often before, it may simply be a PR puff that has been taken as gospel. Will anyone out there stick their hand up and confess that they’ve actually paid for online friends? And wouldn’t going into any pub and yelling out “The drinks are on me” be a better way of going about it?