4 ms·

Lyft spam on Facebook

47 points by kawera 11y ago

DaveWalk 11y ago
Lyft (or someone collecting affiliate money?) using spam Facebook accounts to post coupon codes on several event pages. The author suggests that these shady marketing tactics are limited by Lyft's resources and market share. Ironic that even in marketing it sounds like they are mimicking Uber to the best of their ability.
- dubcanada 11y ago
  affiliate spamming is not really something new. It's annoying and terrible, but it's been around for as long as affiliate itself.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    The affiliate strategy is basically: spam for us and we'll give you a cut.
    - JoshTriplett 11y ago
      Respectable affiliate programs will cut off affiliates who promote affiliate links via spam. Less respectable affiliate programs quietly ignore whatever affiliates do.
bstanfield 11y ago
One of the ways I've seen botnets skirt this problem is by using cartoon profile pictures. Cartoon bots don't work quite as well on Facebook as they do on Twitter and Instagram (where they're only used to inflate favorite/follower stats, not to sell stuff). Unfortunately, it's probably hard to convince someone to hail a Lyft if "social proof" is coming from someone with a cartoon face. With that said, these bot puppeteers could feasibly get around identity theft/copyright/social proof issues by using CC0 stock photography sites. There's plenty of free photos out there for people to use, i.e. as profile pictures. Not that it'd be any more ethical, but at least it would be legal.
- rdancer 11y ago
  It would still be fraud, but at least it would not be copyright & publicity rights infringement.
patrickfl 11y ago
Could it be possible that it is Lyft affiliates that are doing this on their own for affiliate commissions? Not saying it is right, but at least it isn't a marketing strategy from the central office. I wonder why they aren't at least doing some crafty Photoshop and merging images of 2 different people to create a unique persona. There was a guy here on HN that did that a few years back it was a pretty popular post. Possibly even worse than Lyft spam are infinite scrolling websites such as these. Ctrl +A? I don't think so. How do you tell where the article ends? I was in "skimming mode" and 1/2 way down the page before I realized I was reading another article.
- Dr_tldr 11y ago
  Well I'm sure Lyft it shocked, absolutely shocked to discover that there's spamming going on here. It's not like they could develop basic accountability tools or read the thousands of complaints consumers have sent to them directly or do a google search. All of those things are impossible to do with present technology, which is why Lyft is the real victim here.
- bstanfield 11y ago
  Source?
us0r 11y ago
Related: Sanford Wallace is suppose to be sentenced today for spamming Facebook. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/25/spammer_wallace_faces_jail_facebook_scam/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/25/spammer_wallace_face...
Scoundreller 11y ago
I see plenty of similar Uber spam too. We had an election recently, and had plenty of "Uber is hooking you up with free rides to your election polling station* * Valid for first time customers only"
dsugarman 11y ago
From this post, it seems like the only coupon code referenced is 'Murica'. If it was Lyft doing this, they would probably have different codes for each bot, seems more likely that it is an affiliate. It's like the old adage, "Whoever gets the commission is on a bot creating mission"
- BHSPitMonkey 11y ago
  It definitely doesn't seem like that would be a referral code from a driver, since I'd expect those to be more unique and auto-generated. I doubt drivers have the privilege of writing their own coupon codes like this, but I could be wrong.
Scoundreller 11y ago
As Rideshare guy has figured out, it's more profitable to sell picks and shovels than it is to be a gold miner.
iLoch 11y ago
How does the author know these are spam accounts and not simply individuals who have chosen to lock down the publicity of their Facebook profiles? My profile looks pretty barren if you're not my friend, too.

47 points by kawera 11y ago

Lyft (or someone collecting affiliate money?) using spam Facebook accounts to post coupon codes on several event pages. The author suggests that these shady marketing tactics are limited by Lyft's resources and market share. Ironic that even in marketing it sounds like they are mimicking Uber to the best of their ability.

dubcanada 11y ago
affiliate spamming is not really something new. It's annoying and terrible, but it's been around for as long as affiliate itself.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  The affiliate strategy is basically: spam for us and we'll give you a cut.
  - JoshTriplett 11y ago
    Respectable affiliate programs will cut off affiliates who promote affiliate links via spam. Less respectable affiliate programs quietly ignore whatever affiliates do.

bstanfield 11y ago

One of the ways I've seen botnets skirt this problem is by using cartoon profile pictures. Cartoon bots don't work quite as well on Facebook as they do on Twitter and Instagram (where they're only used to inflate favorite/follower stats, not to sell stuff). Unfortunately, it's probably hard to convince someone to hail a Lyft if "social proof" is coming from someone with a cartoon face. With that said, these bot puppeteers could feasibly get around identity theft/copyright/social proof issues by using CC0 stock photography sites. There's plenty of free photos out there for people to use, i.e. as profile pictures. Not that it'd be any more ethical, but at least it would be legal.

rdancer 11y ago
It would still be fraud, but at least it would not be copyright & publicity rights infringement.

patrickfl 11y ago

Could it be possible that it is Lyft affiliates that are doing this on their own for affiliate commissions? Not saying it is right, but at least it isn't a marketing strategy from the central office. I wonder why they aren't at least doing some crafty Photoshop and merging images of 2 different people to create a unique persona. There was a guy here on HN that did that a few years back it was a pretty popular post. Possibly even worse than Lyft spam are infinite scrolling websites such as these. Ctrl +A? I don't think so. How do you tell where the article ends? I was in "skimming mode" and 1/2 way down the page before I realized I was reading another article.

Dr_tldr 11y ago
Well I'm sure Lyft it shocked, absolutely shocked to discover that there's spamming going on here. It's not like they could develop basic accountability tools or read the thousands of complaints consumers have sent to them directly or do a google search. All of those things are impossible to do with present technology, which is why Lyft is the real victim here.
bstanfield 11y ago
Source?

us0r 11y ago

Related: Sanford Wallace is suppose to be sentenced today for spamming Facebook. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/25/spammer_wallace_faces_jail_facebook_scam/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/25/spammer_wallace_face...

Scoundreller 11y ago

I see plenty of similar Uber spam too. We had an election recently, and had plenty of "Uber is hooking you up with free rides to your election polling station* * Valid for first time customers only"

dsugarman 11y ago

From this post, it seems like the only coupon code referenced is 'Murica'. If it was Lyft doing this, they would probably have different codes for each bot, seems more likely that it is an affiliate. It's like the old adage, "Whoever gets the commission is on a bot creating mission"

BHSPitMonkey 11y ago
It definitely doesn't seem like that would be a referral code from a driver, since I'd expect those to be more unique and auto-generated. I doubt drivers have the privilege of writing their own coupon codes like this, but I could be wrong.

Scoundreller 11y ago

As Rideshare guy has figured out, it's more profitable to sell picks and shovels than it is to be a gold miner.

iLoch 11y ago

How does the author know these are spam accounts and not simply individuals who have chosen to lock down the publicity of their Facebook profiles? My profile looks pretty barren if you're not my friend, too.