VietNamNet Bridge - The numbers of followers of many Facebookers in Vietnam dropped unexpectedly without any explanation from the social network giant.

Quynh Dang, a Facebooker, said discovered that she had only 35,000 followers, a small number compared with 3 million followers reported before.

“I guess Facebook has taken action to eliminate virtual subs (subscribers),” she said, adding that she had used some tricks to increase the number of followers in the past.

Many other Facebookers complained they had seen the number of followers drop dramatically. “My friends all complained that they have lost so many followers. I think Facebook has done something to stop Facebookers’ ‘virtual life’,” said Thanh Nguyen.

Phan Van Hoi, a Facebook Marketing officer, said some people want a high number of subs to look famous. 

The numbers of followers of many Facebookers in Vietnam dropped unexpectedly without any explanation from the social network giant.

In the past, accounts with many subs would have additional features. For example, accounts attracting 10,000 subs or more would have reply comments (now granted to all accounts). 

“Some Facebookers wanted to show off their fame. They used some tricks to create virtual subs,” Hoi explained. “Those who sell goods online via Facebook wanted high numbers of subs to advertise their goods.”

In March 2015, the world’s largest social network carried out a campaign to clean up virtual likes on fanpages. In November 2016, Facebook also declared war against false information after the contentious US election.

Facebook’s new policy has immediately had a big influence on KOLs (key opinion leaders) who have earned big money from Facebook, programmers who own apps and services to increase virtual subs.

“The list of affected KOLs and Facebookers must be very long,” an analyst said.

Cuong Seven, a singer, who had more than 1 million followers in the past, now has 377,299 followers. Soobin Hoang Son, also a singer, has seen her number of followers cut by half. Quynh Anh Shyn, Bang Di, Chi Dan, Ha Lade and Thien Minh are also facing the same problem.

An ad officer from a HCM City-based ad agency said there were two groups of KOLs in Vietnam. 

The first includes celebrities who don’t care about the number of subs, but only about their fame. The second are popular bloggers and Facebookers, whose numbers of followers help them make money. 

“It’s clear that the new move by Facebook targets the second group,” he said.