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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Show me yours, I'll show you mine. LIKE-A-TITION?? what is that?


(No offense to anyone..  just some observations on this cultural phenomenon).  


Facebook page promotions are run under the guise of "Competition" where the most likes determine the winner. Competitors solicit their family and friends for votes or Likes and post a plea on the "Competition" page repeatedly, so as to maximize visibility to new page dwellers and get their vote.  Such persistence seems to pay off as well.  Some invitations sound like this:  your vote gets mine, Like mine and I'll Like yours, Support me please, Help me win


There is absolutely nothing wrong with this except for one word:  competition.


To put this into perspective imagine a race where a slow runner that comes in last in the race would actually win the race because the runner had the most audience or spectators' cheers.  Finish last and get the recognition and the awards, ok maybe not necessarily last and maybe not even finish the race,  but you get the idea.  Ok, another example  would be a dancing competition but the audience, who decides the winner, supports a mediocre performer.  This is how these so called competitions are run on Facebook and the real winner is the page itself as it builds, if it builds, a large audience and recognition to itself or its agenda.


One cannot blame entrants for directing the traffic to their thing to vote on.  Sometimes the sheer number of entries discourages people from browsing the entries and "liking", but that is what they're supposed to do.  Many would just satisfy the urge to be done with the task of helping one or more in need by linking to them directly.  So, the system is not perfect!


Again, there is nothing wrong with that activity except the name, competition.  That, it is not.  Call it what it is, "Like-a-tition".. how is that for a new word?  Win prizes based on your ability to get "Likes".


Here are some screen grabs from a very successful page promotion for an event:  
AUB Outdoors 2011 Samsung Photo Competition.










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