Facebook

[dieseltaylor]

This made me laugh plenty, though the share price is pretty funny too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sThcwmx3rs

[Lt Belenko]

The host uses social media to interact with her fans without needing to see, hear, or smell them. Just like BFC and us folks on the forums.

[dieseltaylor]

Not so funny and even as Facebook sinks losing 18$ on every share bought in the May IPO. A bigger con job is hard to imagine - well this year anyway.

ANd

'Harm our business'

Facebook, whose business model relies on targeted advertising, is coming under increased scrutiny over the worth of its advertising model which promotes the gathering of "likes" from users.

When a BBC investigation last month concluded that a rash of fake profiles was a cause for concern for Facebook advertisers, the social network was dismissive.

"We've not seen evidence of a significant problem," a spokesman told us.

Now its own figures show that more than 80 million of its global audience may be in effect worthless to advertisers - either duplicate accounts, or spammers or perhaps cats and dogs.

The problem is particularly acute in developing countries like Indonesia and Turkey where Facebook is enjoying rapid growth.

A number of advertisers have been challenging Facebook to prove that the clicks they are receiving on their ads are "real" - these figures will provide them with added ammunition.

"We generate a substantial majority of our revenue from advertising," the company said in its filing.

"The loss of advertisers, or reduction in spending by advertisers with Facebook, could seriously harm our business."

Last month, the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones set up a fake company called VirtualBagel to investigate allegations of fake "likes".

His investigation found that the large majority of "likes" for the fake firm originated from the Middle East and Asia.

Many users appeared to be false, such as "Ahmed Ronaldo" - apparently a Cairo-based user who is employed by Spanish football club Real Madrid.

Last week, digital distribution firm Limited Press alleged that, based on its own analytics software, 80% of clicks on its advertisements within Facebook had come from fake users.

In a post on its Facebook page, the company said: "Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs. So we tried contacting Facebook about this. Unfortunately, they wouldn't reply.

"Do we know who the bots belong too [sic]? No. Are we accusing Facebook of using bots to drive up advertising revenue. No. Is it strange? Yes."

After a surge of attention to the company, it has since removed the Facebook posting, and said Facebook was now looking into its concern