Facebook to check every user with 'suspicious' profile

Social networking giant Facebook is covering that extra base to curb the misuse of its platform. Reports quoted an official from the company as saying that the social network with a 900 million stronghold was making a “huge attempt” to erase fake profiles from its network. By doing so, it aimed to discourage the misuse of such fake profiles. Interestingly, as per the statement by this official, Facebook may go as far as asking users to identify themselves (their presence on the network), if they found it suspicious. 

Facebook cracks whip on suspicious profiles

Reports quoted Facebook India business manager Pavan Varma as saying, “Absolutely, there is a huge effort.” According to Verma, the giveaways of such a dubious-seeming profile would be users using a generic name instead of a proper one, having celebrity or cartoon images as their display pictures and/or lack of enough friends. “It could even be that Facebook comes back to you saying, 'could you help us identify yourself if you don't have enough friends, because we don't want fake identities,” he added.

Coming down strictly on fake profiles is the latest to come in what seems to be an attempt by Facebook to improve user experience, while also focusing on security.

Recently, there were reports about Facebook cracking the whip on fake ‘Likes’ on its Pages. Facebook affirmed that it would be coming down strongly on fraudulent Likes on Pages. The social networking giant opines that when a page and a fan connect on its platform,  it needs to be ensured that the connection involves a real person with genuine interest in knowing more about and hearing from that particular Page. "As such, we have recently increased our automated efforts to remove Likes on Pages that may have been gained by means that violate our Facebook Terms," Facebook added in its post titled 'Improvements To Our Site Integrity Systems'.

What this means is that now when users visit a Page, they will see an authentic account of the fan count and demographics. Facebook adds here that this way, Pages will produce more relevant and interesting content. As for brands, authentic Likes would mean that they would see an increase in the engagement of a user with its content.

In this context, Verma was quoted by reports as saying, “How does an advertiser today treat a Facebook page? It is treated as a place where they just come with a number of people who are there. But that is a wrong way of doing it." Verma opined that conversations pertaining to the brand should be of more concern than the numbers. "Mere "likes" on the page do not help a brand. Companies generally pay Facebook for a dedicated page on its platform that helps them connect with the target audience. IDBI Bank claims it has over five lakh fans on Facebook.”

“We are worried about the experience we deliver....It's not about protecting our brand identity so much,” added Verma.

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