Things to avoid in Facebook competitions
Free online competitions are all the rage these days (trust us, we’d know), and one of the most popular places to enter competitions online has got to be through Facebook. Over the last decade the social media platform has massively increased in popularity, something that has led to Facebook competitions being more and more common.
Now, at Winzum we are completely and utterly committed to keeping you lovely lot as safe as possible, which is why we thought it would be a good idea to list a few things to avoid in Facebook competitions. Free online competitions are all well and good, but you really do have to be careful too!
Is the prize too good to be true?
We all know how exciting it can be to be in with a chance of winning a brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage driven by a robot version of James Bond, but do you really think prizes like this are real? Unfortunately there are many Facebook competition prizes that wouldn’t ever be able to materialise in reality, so be careful.
Facebook competitions are often run in order to be glorified data farms (something you can read more about here [data farming dark underbelly], and outrageously tempting prizes are one of the main ways in which contestants are attracted.
Check how many people have already entered
The useful thing about modern Facebook competitions is that in most cases you can easily check how many other people have entered by counting up the shares, likes or comments. Most Facebook competitions instruct participants to share a post or drop a comment, so in this way you can accurately estimate how many people have entered.
This then means that you can have a go at guessing what the odds of winning a Facebook competition would be. If there have been millions of other entrants then maybe you would be better off saving the time and finding a smaller competition with better odds of winning.
Always confirm that the Facebook page is legitimate
Going back to what we said about fake Facebook competition prizes, it is also important to confirm that the actual Facebook page running the competition is also legitimate. All too often nasty people pose under the “official” page of a large company, only in order to run Facebook competitions and scam people out of their personal data.
It is incredibly easy to notice when an illegitimate Facebook page posing as a company has been set up. Check the date the page was created, as well as how many people like it, and also whether the graphics used match up.
Avoid giving personal details
The Internet is a wonderful place, but it can also be dangerous too. This is mainly down to hackers trying to steal your hard earned money, so you need to be incredibly careful with your personal details.
To enter a Facebook competition you should never under any circumstances have to provide any more information than you already have on your user profile, so avoid giving out any personal details to Facebook competitions.