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Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online

posted by janrinok on Monday April 21 2014, @01:48PM   
from the my-best-friend-is-a-bot dept.

mendax writes:

The New York Times published a blog posting which documents some of the strange and interesting history of the usage of bots, including the sales of access to them, in order to essentially buy popularity on Facebook and other social networking sites as as well as their use by political parties. The article also describes how they have evolved in the never-ending battle to outwit the bot detection efforts by those sites.

• Re:Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. Re:Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. (Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday April 21 2014, @02:22PM

  by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday April 21 2014, @02:22PM (#33974) Homepage

  Being considered "popular" is a sure sign that whatever "it" is, "it" is idiotic. Or, put another way -- most people are stupid, so whatever they like collectively is also stupid.

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• Re:Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. Re:Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. (Score: 2, Funny) by clone141166 on Monday April 21 2014, @04:54PM

  by clone141166 (59) on Monday April 21 2014, @04:54PM (#34042)

  I think I kind of agree with that statement. I am concerned that I'm agreeing with something Ethanol-fueled said though! :P

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  • Re:Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday April 21 2014, @08:58PM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday April 21 2014, @08:58PM (#34154) Journal

    Me too! Gawd, don't you just hate "me, too" posts? But if we all agree with Ethanol-fueled, doesn't that mean it is stupid, and he has just refuted his own post?

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