Infinite Path

Facebook has threatened to take action against the marketing firm, USocial, unless it brings an end to activity deemed to be in violation of the social networking site’s rights. Facebook is desperate for the marketing firm to stop helping members break its terms and conditions, with the main complaint focusing upon the manner in which USocial aids individuals to profit from their online profile.

USocial’s behaviour certainly sounds intrusive; they have sent spam, used web tools to harvest pages, accessed login names and accounts belonging to members, and have allowed users of Facebook to boost their friend numbers artificially.

USocial, who also allow their customers to manipulate the terms and conditions of Twitter by selling “blocks” of followers for a significant amount of money, has agreed to change its practices in theory but has refused to stop providing a service to its customers. The marketing firm is set to make it clear on its site that it is not affiliated in any way with Facebook and, whilst USocial will delete the login information previously collected, it may decide to resume the service in the future.

The large majority of people involved in social networking sites are likely to be left feeling aggrieved with USocial’s reaction. The firm has courted controversy in the past for selling connections, with many purists feeling it goes against the point of social media. Their business model is certainly built on slightly unethical foundations and, on top of this, it is surprising to see the firm react in this manner towards a household brand such as Facebook.

Recently, USocial started selling airtime on YouTube in an attempt to manipulate viewing figures in a move which was met with severe criticism. The company claimed that spending time trying to increase viewer figures through natural methods is a waste of time and resources when viewers can be bought using their service.

Whether you agree with their principles or not, companies like USocial are a natural byproduct of our increasing dependence upon social networking sites in both our private and working lives.