The WordPress Reader is usually a fascinating place to poke round and have a look at different folks’s blog-ish habits. One of many issues that pursuits (and puzzles) me is the like-for-like phenomenon. I feel there are a good quantity of people that do that, and there are some bloggers that I discover liking so many posts that I’ve sturdy doubts as to whether or not they’re truly studying (and even opening) all of these posts that they’re liking.
The like-for-like phenomenon turns into significantly apparent whenever you come throughout blogs with excessive engagement numbers however content material that doesn’t in any approach warrant such numbers.
One instance is a website that posts printer drivers. A put up with drivers for the HP Envy Professional 6455 bought 86 likes, as a result of actually, who wouldn’t need to learn that, and who doesn’t have an HP Envy Professional 6455?
That pales as compared, although, to the 252 likes for a font website’s put up with obtain information for a font referred to as Not Unhealthy. As a result of once more, who doesn’t need to embrace that of their day?
Otherwise you’ve bought the true property firm that does weblog posts in Spanish and will get >200 likes per put up from a variety of non-Spanish-sounding bloggers.
In flip, if you wish to get a bunch of likes in your posts, you could possibly in all probability have a look at the people who find themselves liking posts on the printer driver and font websites and go and like their posts to climb aboard the like-for-like categorical.
Does anybody keep in mind Sebastian? He was round final 12 months and for a short while this 12 months liking an entire bunch of posts, usually inside seconds of individuals publishing them. There have been a number of stories about him on the WordPress.com help discussion board (together with right here, right here, right here, right here, and right here), and WP did take away his potential to love posts within the Reader, though it appears like he stored creating new accounts they usually needed to do some chasing to maintain up with him. And in case you’re as fascinated by Sebastian as I’m, Google “relatocorto” (the oh-so-creative identify of his web site, which interprets to “brief story”), and also you’ll see that he’s managed to persuade Google that he’s a legit place of job.
Individuals do this type of factor as a result of it “works”, and folks will maintain doing it so long as there are folks who will take part in like-for like. I keep in mind Sebastian used to get a shit ton of likes on his posts (which in all probability resulted in him earning money off the advertisements he had on his website). He has a Purchase Me A Espresso web page, and he’s had a variety of coffees purchased for him, though I believe {that a} chunk of that’s him utilizing different accounts to purchase coffees for himself to make it seem like he’s common.
Like-for-like could also be a reasonably efficient option to get a variety of (fairly meaningless) likes, however the artificiality of it actually doesn’t do it for me. Is that this one thing you’ve observed or participated in?
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