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DU Home » Latest Threads » Forums & Groups » Main » Latest Breaking News (Forum) » Facebook estimates 83 mil...

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:42 PM

Star Member Playinghardball (5,536 posts)

Facebook estimates 83 million profiles are fake

Source: Raw Story

Facebook has more than 83 million fake profiles, including millions created for users’ pets and a large number of accounts the company deems “undesirable”, it has admitted.

The figure emerged in Facebook’s first quarterly report to US financial regulators since the world’s biggest social network made its much-criticised stock market debut in May.

In a return published this week, the company said 8.7% of its 955 million global users are not real.

There were 83.09 million fake users in total, which Facebook classifies into three groups. The largest is made up of almost 46 million duplicate profiles, accounting for 4.8% of all accounts. The company defined that category as “an account that a user maintains in addition to his or her principal account”.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/02/facebook-estimates-83-million-profiles-are-fake/

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Arrow 38 replies Author Time Post
Reply Facebook estimates 83 million profiles are fake (Original post)
 Playinghardball Aug 2012 OP
LineReply Fake profiles are people my friend
 ThoughtCriminal Aug 2012 #1
LineLineReply It's a sock monkey and her name is, Monkeeh.
 Arctic Dave Aug 2012 #9
LineLineNew Reply Bwahahahahahahahah!
 crim son Aug 2012 #38
LineReply That sounds about what I expected
 Posteritatis Aug 2012 #2
LineReply 83 Million and 1
 Right Hand of Dog Aug 2012 #3
LineLineReply LOL!
 Gman Aug 2012 #22
LineReply I'd say FB's estimate is probably low. Embelish, embelish, embelish.
 Raster Aug 2012 #4
LineLineReply Agreed - When I used to play Farmville - friends set up multiple accounts so I had like 100 fake
 Hestia Aug 2012 #6
LineLineLineReply I have a few of those
 LadyHawkAZ Aug 2012 #7
LineReply sounds like membership in the Tea Party
 tomm2thumbs Aug 2012 #5
LineReply Not all the info on mine is real.
 hobbit709 Aug 2012 #8
LineReply My dogs and my second life avatar all have pages
 TrogL Aug 2012 #10
LineReply I have one of those "duplicate" accounts
 Hugabear Aug 2012 #11
LineLineNew Reply Not a bad idea especially in the US
 davidpdx Aug 2012 #36
LineReply Just posted this on Facebook so my friends pets can read it, LOL
 just1voice Aug 2012 #12
LineReply I'll bet a lot of people have a "fake" in their real name to show employers
 McCamy Taylor Aug 2012 #13
LineReply Clearly, that means it's time to buy stock in Facebook.
 DCKit Aug 2012 #14
LineReply 83 million valued at $100 per for the IPO,
 Downwinder Aug 2012 #15
LineReply Where's Captain Obvious when you need him?
 liberaltrucker Aug 2012 #16
LineLineNew Reply Ummm, I believe he's posting over on Facebook as General Failure.
 Major Hogwash Aug 2012 #37
LineReply I keep one dummy account.
 AtheistCrusader Aug 2012 #17
LineReply Probably correlates with 83 million fake people.
 Lint Head Aug 2012 #18
LineReply I made one for my pet so it could be my neighbor in CityVille.
 Ian David Aug 2012 #19
LineReply do we now call it
 UpInArms Aug 2012 #20
LineReply All followers of Mitt the twit.
 sarcasmo Aug 2012 #21
LineReply What does that make the BILLIONS
 newblewtoo Aug 2012 #23
LineReply Imagine the Fakes at Yahoo
 bucolic_frolic Aug 2012 #24
LineReply I wonder why they waited till after the big stock sale to disclose this?
 tabasco Aug 2012 #25
LineReply I have about ten fakes.
 MrSlayer Aug 2012 #26
LineReply Our Ecletus parrot Paco has a ton of other bird friends.
 L0oniX Aug 2012 #27
LineReply Like mine...
 Ron Obvious Aug 2012 #28
LineNew Reply Even with the fake accounts, it looks like they're about to hit a billion
 tridim Aug 2012 #29
LineLineNew Reply if you can believe that number
 wordpix Aug 2012 #30
LineNew Reply Well, there is my......
 desolatebloodshed Aug 2012 #31
LineNew Reply "8.7 percent of its 955 million monthly active users..."
 klook Aug 2012 #32
LineNew Reply It's almost a necessity if you play Facebook games
 apples and oranges Aug 2012 #33
LineNew Reply Fake? Fake? Why, I never...
 Warren DeMontague Aug 2012 #34
LineNew Reply Bullshit.
 Heywood J Aug 2012 #35

Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:44 PM

ThoughtCriminal (9,798 posts)

1. Fake profiles are people my friend

Don't make the sock puppets get mad.

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Response to ThoughtCriminal (Reply #1)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:26 PM

Star Member Arctic Dave (12,556 posts)

9. It's a sock monkey and her name is, Monkeeh.

She goes everywhere.

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Response to ThoughtCriminal (Reply #1)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 11:28 AM

Star Member crim son (26,494 posts)

38. Bwahahahahahahahah!

You just made my morning!

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:46 PM

Posteritatis (17,304 posts)

2. That sounds about what I expected

I know a couple people with duplicate accounts for safety reasons and a few people doing inane things like giving their pets FB pages. The number of bot accounts implied in the article's incredibly low though, so something's working there at least.

It's still a pretty small number of problematic accounts given the sheer size of the site though. I think it's kind of silly for people to be fretting over the numbers involved for this one, though I also long for the day when major companies realize that pushy advertising on social networks isn't going to do much for them in the first place.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:52 PM

Right Hand of Dog (8 posts)

3. 83 Million and 1

 

I started my fake FB page after hearing this story earlier today

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Response to Right Hand of Dog (Reply #3)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 07:29 PM

Star Member Gman (21,168 posts)

22. LOL!

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:53 PM

Star Member Raster (12,615 posts)

4. I'd say FB's estimate is probably low. Embelish, embelish, embelish.

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Response to Raster (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:57 PM

Hestia (1,708 posts)

6. Agreed - When I used to play Farmville - friends set up multiple accounts so I had like 100 fake

friends accounts just so they could play FV! I'll bet it's closer to 50% or more.

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Response to Hestia (Reply #6)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:02 PM

Star Member LadyHawkAZ (3,915 posts)

7. I have a few of those

It's less of a headache than adding a bunch of people I don't know.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 04:56 PM

tomm2thumbs (9,189 posts)

5. sounds like membership in the Tea Party


and Romney is probably buying all the fake Facebook friends for his site so really those are his perfect audience given that fake-is as fake-does

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:18 PM

Star Member hobbit709 (26,098 posts)

8. Not all the info on mine is real.

The people that know me know what's real. the people that don't know, it doesn't matter.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:29 PM

Star Member TrogL (31,287 posts)

10. My dogs and my second life avatar all have pages

One day my "suggested friends" was three dogs, two cats and a parakeet. Not sure I liked the look of the parakeet.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:35 PM

Hugabear (9,866 posts)

11. I have one of those "duplicate" accounts

I have one account that I use for my personal stuff and friends - this one is completely private to any prying eyes.

I have another one that I seldom use, keep just in case I need to apply for a job that snoops around for my Facebook page.

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Response to Hugabear (Reply #11)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 08:42 AM

Star Member davidpdx (8,812 posts)

36. Not a bad idea especially in the US

I only have one and have the tightest level of security and am very selective about who I friend. There are people who have thousands of "friends", but I don't even have 100 yet (I've only been on Facebook for about 3 1/2 years and was kind of a latecomer). I may break that mark this year.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:42 PM

just1voice (1,362 posts)

12. Just posted this on Facebook so my friends pets can read it, LOL

 

This story makes all those "Just read this on Facebook" comments even dumber than they already were.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:43 PM

McCamy Taylor (13,710 posts)

13. I'll bet a lot of people have a "fake" in their real name to show employers

who demand to see their FB as a condition of employment---and then a "real" account in a phony name where they actually do their socializing. And what about someone with a professional name that is different from their private or family name? Both are "real" they just serve two different purposes.

And what the Astroturf? The employees of special industries who create fictitious accounts at the request of their employer so that they can pretend to represent a grass roots movement? Which one of them is "real" and which one is the "fake"? There are probably a few million "Romney supporters" who fall into this category.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:46 PM

DCKit (18,328 posts)

14. Clearly, that means it's time to buy stock in Facebook.

That number is going to balloon prior to the election.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 06:03 PM

Star Member Downwinder (7,132 posts)

15. 83 million valued at $100 per for the IPO,

no wonder stock price is off.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 06:15 PM

Star Member liberaltrucker (7,402 posts)

16. Where's Captain Obvious when you need him?

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Response to liberaltrucker (Reply #16)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 09:41 AM

Major Hogwash (12,368 posts)

37. Ummm, I believe he's posting over on Facebook as General Failure.

Mue-ha-ha!!!

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 06:30 PM

AtheistCrusader (14,266 posts)

17. I keep one dummy account.

I use it to verify the public security/privacy settings on my real account, to make sure FB is showing only the crap I want it to show, to people that are not directly my friends.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 06:48 PM

Lint Head (10,443 posts)

18. Probably correlates with 83 million fake people.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 06:52 PM

Star Member Ian David (68,450 posts)

19. I made one for my pet so it could be my neighbor in CityVille.

Even "fake" profiles like that one still get seen by human eyeballs.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 07:06 PM

Star Member UpInArms (42,640 posts)

20. do we now call it

Fakebook?

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 07:10 PM

Star Member sarcasmo (13,550 posts)

21. All followers of Mitt the twit.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 07:37 PM

newblewtoo (397 posts)

23. What does that make the BILLIONS

Zuckerberg and friends got?

Is that sucking sound is starting to sound familiar? This is why I got out of the market back in the '90's. Once burned twice shy. I bought Apple at 60 and sold at 18 and was darn glad to get that. It is a rigged game.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 08:56 PM

bucolic_frolic (708 posts)

24. Imagine the Fakes at Yahoo

but they can't figure it out

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 08:59 PM

tabasco (18,297 posts)

25. I wonder why they waited till after the big stock sale to disclose this?

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 09:05 PM

Star Member MrSlayer (21,367 posts)

26. I have about ten fakes.

From when I would play the dopey games on there. The better to send yourself meaningless items.

They're fun characters though.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 09:06 PM

Star Member L0oniX (17,363 posts)

27. Our Ecletus parrot Paco has a ton of other bird friends.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 09:15 PM

Star Member Ron Obvious (1,658 posts)

28. Like mine...

I wonder if they've twigged yet that "Lube Monkey" is not my real name.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 09:28 PM

Star Member tridim (40,735 posts)

29. Even with the fake accounts, it looks like they're about to hit a billion

That's impressive and scary.

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Response to tridim (Reply #29)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 09:53 PM

wordpix (12,478 posts)

30. if you can believe that number

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 10:38 PM

desolatebloodshed (1 post)

31. Well, there is my......



employer profile
college profile
stage name-stripper profile
Etsy, since I sell crafts, profile
my band, I am a musician too, profile
my family profile
and my pets now share a profile (I wouldn't be able to keep up with individual pet profiles)

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 11:16 PM

Star Member klook (4,461 posts)

32. "8.7 percent of its 955 million monthly active users..."

Good grief, almost a billion FB user accounts?? Hard to believe only 9 percent of them are fake, actually.

Love the one referenced at the top of the article:



"In a domestic partnership."

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 12:09 AM

apples and oranges (1,083 posts)

33. It's almost a necessity if you play Facebook games

Unless you want your "real" friends spammed by the massive amount of invites and updates the games post.

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Response to Playinghardball (Original post)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 07:53 AM

Star Member Heywood J (2,219 posts)

35. Bullshit.

Every person I know with a Facebook account has at least five. Couple that with everyone else in this thread referring to the games, cats, birds, employer-friendly accounts, etc. and I don't believe for a second that any less than 33% of accounts are fake. How many of the rest are deleted (but not removed from the statistics) or outdated?

Or does "undesirable" include people too poor to market to?

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