Facebook's pay-for-more-eyeballs shtick looks too good to be true

This risk has always been true across the entire web. But with the known and documented increase in fake accounts over the years on all social media platforms, it is worse than ever. All to often I see questionable accounts liking/following pages I manage for clients, all with similar red flags like those mentioned in the article. That is why I personally do not recommend this form of advertising. And if you do, you need to be vary careful about the target parameters, e.g. avoid accounts that are less than a number of years old (if possible).

This is nothing new. It was/is the same for print media. The only difference is that online it's much more immediate.

John Wanamaker is supposed to have said said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”