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September 04, 2021

Buy your Facebook friends -- consider it a business decision

We all have those friends on Facebook who are little too, well, awful.

They’re the owners of more than 600 friends, a struggling career as a club promoter, status updates like, "Out tonight bottle service n VIP booth txt me if u wnt me 2 get u on guest list," and the secret hatred of anyone who browses their profile.

Yet an Australian social networking company now considers such haughtiness a promising business enterprise, even going so far as selling Facebook friends by the thousands as a means of promotion.

uSocial, the Aussie site that happens to be mired in controversy, offers packages for Facebook and Twitter that promises anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 friends or followers, should that be your kind of thing.

“Facebook is an extremely effective marketing tool,” Leon Hill, uSocial’s CEO, said this week.

“The simple fact is that with a large following on Facebook, you have an instant and targeted group of people you can contact and promote whatever it is you want to promote.

“The only problem is that it can be extremely difficult to achieve such a following, which is where we come in.”

According to Reuters, depending on the order you place, uSocial sends a “welcome message” to people asking them to add you as a friend or fan based on your cause, product or reason for wanting a ridiculous amount of followers on your Facebook or Twitter page.

One thousand friends will cost you $177. Ten thousand goes for $1,167.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, uSocial has not been without its share of detractors. The site has been accused of mass spamming by Facebook and Twitter, the latter even launching an attempt to shut uSocial down.

And if that wasn’t enough, it was recently revealed the late King of Pop, Mike Jackson, had someone utilize uSocial to buy 25,000 followers for his Twitter page.

What do you think? Is uSocial fair or foul?

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

James HaversJames Havers

James is the senior editor of MSN Money living in Toronto. He has worked for the Nikkei Shimbun (Tokyo), canoe.ca, AOL.ca, Canadian Business and other publications. Havers turned to journalism after teaching overseas.

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...