
College Prowler Caught Using Fake Facebook Accounts + Groups to Build List - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2008/12/21/facebook-marketing-college-prowler-caught-using-fake-accounts-and-facebook-groups/
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ryanwaggoner
This headline really threw me, as it sounds like some kind of sexual predator
was using social media tools to research victims or something. Or am I the
only one who read it like that?

The reality is that a company called "College Prowler" was using Facebook for
guerrilla marketing. Whew!

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cabalamat
> _... some kind of sexual predator was using social media tools to research
> victims or something. Or am I the only one who read it like that?_

I read it that way too. Maybe the company should change their name to
something less threatening, like, uh, Serial Killer.

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kwamenum86
I read it like that as well, ryan[...]. The story is still interesting though.
It is actually a pretty cool hack since most first year students will likely
see no reason not to join these groups upon receiving an invitation. I can't
think of another type of group that would have such widespread appeal and can
be used (seemingly) reliably to attract 1 million+ users and push ads or
whatever else.

...and if you employ the method described in the article using legit accounts
it is not against fb's T&C. There are rules against creating an ACCOUNT that
does not accurately represent you but you can create a GROUP that you don't
belong in...so I would say it is a pretty cool hack.

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tokenadult
The pretty cool hack of posting straight-up advertisements for an immigration
law firm on Usenet (remember those days?) did a lot to ruin Usenet. In self-
defense, I suppose Facebook has to figure out a way to reduce the frequency of
this kind of hack. If it fails, then Facebook fails long-term, methinks.

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mihasya
I'm not entirely sure why the company is being so sheepish... nothing that was
described sounds illegal or really that unethical... The CEO's statement is
also clearly bullshit - they knew what they were doing, and are only back
pedaling because they got caught.

