Is there a way to fake your 'likes' count on facebook?

[Joel]

The reason I'm asking is because I'm actually looking at the page of a software developer on Facebook who's 'likes' count incrementally climbs but there hardly any comments on his Facebook page and when they post blog posts, no one every responds in the comments which makes me wonder if many people have bought their software (to do list software) at all. Is it possible for someone to go in and create 'likes' for their own product and if so, is there any way to know for sure?

[Steven]

There are certainly ways to "artificially inflate" your likes. Generally, all you need is a bunch of people to agree to like your page, even if they don't know you or never tried your software. I know a photographer who has asked all his friends and family to like his page on Facebook. Many probably never used his services, but he might have 400+ likes on it. Same goes for Twitter followers.

It's possible that the developer has figured out a way to create fake Facebook accounts, and then automate a LIKE for their Facebook page. But Facebook tries to prevent that sort of thing by making you fill out quite a bit of info before they authorize your page.

One thing you could do is look on OTHER sites about this developer. Maybe they are mentioned on Yelp, or at the Better Business Bureau for that country. Even just googling for their name may show any past issues that were in the news about them, or reviews from other websites.

[Jim]

Most definitely. Some people make a living from the money they get from people/companies that want more likes. Do you want 10,000 likes by tomorrow? There's probably someone out there you can hire that'll get it done (I don't know the typical like per day limit the likers can provide, but it would have to be high for people to be willing to pay for it)