Warning: this has little to nothing to do with couponing. It’s just a trend I’ve seen on Facebook and it really bothers me. I’ve not seen others talk about it, so I wanted to just bring it to your attention.
You might have seen stuff like this in your newsfeed lately:
Nice story, right? Let me make this very clear: I don’t take issue with the story AT ALL. It sounds like this girl did something pretty amazing and that’s all kinds of awesome. I did a little Googling and confirmed that story is true, but it’s not new news. It actually occurred in 2007.
So what’s your beef, Angela?
Here’s my beef. This story isn’t being shared because to spread a neat tale of heroism around the interwebs, it’s being shared specifically and solely to bolster the following of one particular dude. Think I’m wrong? Check out the comment that follows the image! And here’s the other odd thing – if you try leaving your own comment on these photos you’ll see you can’t. There are usually only 3-4 comments left with a ton of “likes.” They are often positive, and feel forced. Also, I usually find I can’t even comment on the photo my friend has left to tell them they’re only helping the “cause” of some jerk gaining a bigger following. In this particular case, I even tried subscribing, but still could not add a comment. Which is generally the point of sharing such an image: to build engagement. Odd.
The status updates that accompany these photos and stories that tug on your heartstrings also interestingly enough encourage you to “like” or “share” them if you agree with the sentiment. So you are basically heartless if you don’t like that kid with cancer, soldier holding a kitten, or firefighter rescuing a baby.
But what of our friend, Jim? What if he’s just trying to build subscribers to make a difference in this world? A quick visit over to his page tells me this is the kind of difference he intends to make:
And that’s not even the worst of it. His page is full of sexual references and inappropriate language including the “n” word. Wow, nice, considering the sweet photo he was sharing out of the goodness of his heart.
Is this the worst thing ever? No. Are there bigger fish to fry? Always. Am I being overly petty? Yeah, I get that’s not out of the realm of possibility. But I’m tired of watching my good pals on Facebook share this kind of thing without recognizing what’s going on. Just know, you’re not heartless if you don’t “like” that angel who saved her mom.
Rant over.
 |
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I give this rant a solid 4.0 on the rant scale. It seems the scammers have figured out how to get regular folks to share their crap – attach it to a cute photo they’ve stolen.
Sick.
That’s the part that gets me – it feels on some level like a form of exploitation.
I think you’re totally right to be upset. I’ve never been fond of these sorts of posts because who knows if they’re true or where they come from. I had no idea that some use these photos as self-promotion. Disgusting he uses an image of an African-American girl to promote himself and then uses a racial slur. Disgusting.
Testify! This stuff makes me cringe when I see it. It’s abhorrent on every level. Good for you for bringing it to the attention of people who don’t realize what they are doing when they “like” that photo of a fairy flying with a unicorn.
I can’t stand these type of posts either. I don’t “like” them ever. I consider them spam and figure someone on the other end is trying to get me to give up my account information.
I consider them spam, as well, or the facebook version of chain mail. It’s not just things like that but other “helpful information” spread about viruses or like the reverse pin if you are forced to withdraw money at gunpoint or told to “like” something and share it to help some poor cancer or other illness kid get money donated to them if you do. I have made more than one friend angry or hurt their feelings when I disprove those kinds of shares. I always check those kinds of things on the hoax sites and post all of the links to them. lol
I never, ever “like” or forward stuff like this. Even though I am a born-again Christian, I will not “like” the “if you love Jesus” things. These are nothing more than chain mail. You know, the good old fashioned ILLEGAL chain mail? It’s not legal to send chain mail through the postal service, it isn’t legal to send it via e-mail, so now they are being sent through social media. I’ll be happy when the social media sites finally start taking serious action against those who start these.
I totally agree with you! I never like them either and I’m a Christian also. I think its awful when they try to make you feel guilty for not sharing a picture or statement. I never ever share those.
I’ve honestly wondered about these, so thanks for clearing it up!
Some of the stories aren’t even true-like the ones that ask you to like a picture to get a child an operation-not how any hospital I know works!
I use snopes.com if I’m not sure about the veracity of a post or email. I know my friends who pass them on have the best of intentions, but I wish more folks would do a little research first and not reward bad apples like this.
I say keep up the rants!
Unfortunately there’s no cure for ignorance. But I think you can report his page under FB’s offensive content rules. According to their terms, racist language is considered hate speech. Maybe they’ll remove his page. FB seems to be pretty good about enforcing those rules – I reported a timeline that was VERY sexually explicit and it was taken down in less than 24 hours.
Good point – will do!!
You go, girl!!
Thank you for saying what a lot of us have been thinking for quite some time. I’m pretty close to unfriending several people because these are the only type posts that they make on Facebook. Uggggh…
I have never seen one of these “ads” and I am glad I haven’t. It really makes you wonder what will be thought up next. Not to mention I assume that children have access to these ads on their Facebook pages as well. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!
“like”
I’m actually in internet security & fraud as a career (well, I show companies how to protect themselves, not commit fraud myself) and I think your rant is valid and I’m glad you’ve brought some of this up on a public forum because a lot of people seem to think this shows how caring they are, when really to me it makes them look gullable.
-I do think that the overall result of “liking” one of these pictures is fairly harmless, but it won’t be long before one of those will link to an un-safe site that could infect the user’s ccomputer with a virus or ask for a credit card # as a “donation” for the cause……
I appreciate your insight! Thank you!
I understand your frustration with that post and agree with you. Although after reading that story, what got to me is why is a 7 yr old girl trying to save her mom? Why wasn’t it the other way around?? For some reason that really bugs me…. 6 bullets is a lot and you’d think that if that girl jumped in front of her mom, the mom would have had time, before all six bullets hit… to get herself in front of her daughter. Not the other way around. It makes me sad, but I’m glad they survived. (I do realize it probably only takes a few seconds to shoot off 6 bullets….. but still…)
Yeah I really don’t know what’s up with that story. In re-reading it, it sounds like the mom was shot in the head though. Perhaps it was at that point the daughter jumped in front? Who knows. It’s really sad, all around.
I really hate the ones that try and “guilt” you into liking and sharing things. Like “share this if you agree, i bet most of my friends won’t”
I saw another one right after posting this of a young man in a wheelchair and it read “one like = one prayer.” Yeah, I’m sure God is up there saying, “here comes another one! Keep ‘em comin’, Facebook users!”
I usually report these as spam