On the Internet, there is always some new way to cheat. As soon as someone finds a way to stop the cheating, the cheaters find another approach.
Let’s say you have a Myspace account. If you’re a musician and have a music profile, you can use a program to increase your song plays. That way, you can make it look like a lot of people are playing your music. The sellers of the automated software that provides this wonderful service tell people that if they do it enough, it will put them on the music charts on Myspace. Then you hit the big time. That’s the theory anyway.
The same is true for Youtube. There is a company you could pay that provides a service to increase your video plays. You can do this basically for the same reasons you would want to increase your song plays on Myspace. Or you could do it even if you just want to impress others. Let’s say you have a website and link to your YouTube videos. It would be nice for people to see that your videos get a lot of plays. It creates the impression that you are really popular. After all, perception is everything when you are trying to break into the entertainment industry.
Need a lot of friends on Myspace, YouTube or Facebook? That’s okay, because they have automated software, out there, that you could purchase, which will automate the process of sending out friend requests. Wouldn’t it look impressive if you’re a musician and you have 30,000 Myspace friends? Kind of makes it look like you’re the biggest thing since the Beatles.
Since I mentioned the Beatles, I have a story related to the subject of cheating. When the Beatles first started out, their manager Brian Epstien’s family owned a record store. They purchased enough copies of the Beatles’ first record to put it on the charts. Once they were on the charts, it was all history from there. Being on the charts is what allowed them to be discovered by the masses. Was that cheating? No more or less than the guy buying YouTube video plays or Myspace song plays. The real question is as to whether or not it is right or wrong.
Cheating one way or another to get ahead is an activity that has probably existed since the beginning of time. Most people probably think that it’s not really hurting anyone else to get those extra song plays, video plays or friends from an automated program. It certainly expedites things. If you were to try to get 30,000 Myspace friends without the use of some automated software, it would take a very long time. Who wants to wait that long?
Need Twitter followers? That’s okay, you can by automated software that allows you to follow people real quick. Then you hope they follow you back in return. If they don’t, you can use the same program to unfollow those who haven’t followed you in return. There are even some companies online that you could outright purchase Twitter followers from. Some also will allow you to buy Facebook fans for your Facebook fan page. You can run a search to find any one of them. They’re not really hard to find at all.
Then there are sites where you can list your Myspace account for people to add you as a friend. This is to basically increase the rate at which people send friend requests to you. There are some sites that give you credits for adding people as friends in Facebook or following someone on Twitter. Some people purchase credits to be listed on the top. Some might offer 5 credits if someone selects them. The person who clicks on it and follows that person on Twitter receives the 5 credits that can be used to be listed on the site. Once the credits run out, your profile is no longer displayed. It’s a quick way of getting Twitter followers.
Since Twitter tweets can actually be more effective in promoting yourself, your band, your business or your products than an e-mail marketing campaign, it may be worth the money to purchase followers. After you purchase the followers, you have a number of people you are now capable of reaching for free. If you tweet something interesting, some of them may retweat your message. That obviously increases the value of each follower.
Now we get back to the question as to whether participating in those various forms of cheating, is it wrong? Should someone feel guilty for doing so? Do you think it’s hurting anyone? I offer no opinion on this myself. I’m just curious as to what the opinions of others are regarding this. So, what do you think? After all, there’s always some new way to cheat.
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