Can Php Force Viral LIKES/SHARES Or LOCK/UNLOCK Pages, Contents, Images, et

[UI]

Guys,

Have you seen those viral social network SHARING scripts or viral social network LIKING scripts or viral content locking scripts or viral contest scripts ?
You know the ones that force you to LIKE or SHARE a webpage in order for you to unlock the remaining content of the page or in order for you to get access to a download page, etc. Do you know if they're built with php or not ? I once found one (free) built with javascript. The downside was, it didn't track whether you LIKED/SHARED the concerned page or not.
Now, I want to learn how to build such scripts to add a feature onto my social network. Few months ago, I was hunting to buy one of these scripts but then gave-up as was planning on building my own with php. But tonight, I'm wondering if they're built with php atall. Because, if they're not then I'm wasting my time dreaming and so best I buy one of them. I'm listing a few below for you to get an idea what I'm talking about. Note I am listing no affiliate/referral links.

In other words, I want to build a script where if you want something from a member of my sn (like get added as his friend or follower or gain rights to mssg him or download his stuffs like ebook, softwares, or gain access to his records/stats, etc.) then you're gonna have to facebook LIKE his blog or facebook LIKE his fan page or facebook POST or digg his post or tweet about his webpage or retweet his tweet or G+ his pages. In other words, I want the script to force you to SHARE/LIKE his webpage on other social networks). That way, the member gets viral traffic. And you too.

So, is all this do-able with php ? If so, which function ? I know partly curl would do the job but anything else too ?
Which aspect of php should I concentrate on ?
:confused:

https://codecanyon.net/item/viral-lock-php-like-google1-or-tweet-to-unlock/1632879
https://codecanyon.net/item/facebook-viral-and-marketing-social-app/717030

http://viralrefer.com/
http://sharethiscontest.com/features.php
http://www.super-tell-a-friend.com/super-tell-a-friend-demo.php

I haven't checked the ones listed on the following page yet but will do after I wake-up. Need to go to bed. You are welcome to check them out and let me know which ones you'd stay away from and which ones you like. That would be feedback for me, should I decide to buy any of them.
One last question, these scripts usually do not come encrypted. Right ? I mean, I'd like to peeping tom over their source code to gain work experience.

PS - More than 6 months back, I built an .exe bot that would force you to tweet about my chosen link. It would check your tweeting page whether you've made the tweet or not. If not, then it won't function. Else, would. Trying to now build something like that with php.
I think if I learn curl then I can get the script to check whether you've made the tweet or not. Get the script to check whether a certain html element or text exists on a page or not. But, I have no clue how to get it to force you to LIKE and SHARE others' pages or how to get the script to LOCK/UNLOCK any content.
I get the feeling, the LOCKING/UNLOCKING is done with javascript. Correct ?

PPS - I downloaded the following free script. Do you reckon it is safe and sound to learn from it's source code ?
http://www.mediafire.com/file/emk3wbzkmdbs9gb/viral+share+script.rar

Thank you for your time and effort!

[rproffitt]

I have a bad feeling about this.

Robots, code forcing likes? Bad robot, sit, stay.

PS. Adding with edit. This is a bad idea in my opinion since it sounds like you seem to want to robotically create likes. If folk were able to do this than it's a useless measure since a robot/code can generate likes and the system we have is now worthless.

I'm reminded of something Douglas Adams wrote.

Thank you. Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich.

[rproffitt]

I want to add this as an identify theft PSA. An experiment at a coffee shop gave out a free cup when you liked them. What happened?

Coffee shop offers customers a free coffee in exchange for 'liking' their shop on Facebook but they also get...their personal details handed back to them. The time it takes the customer to 'like' and order, the team have their name, occupation, mothers maiden name, place of birth, likes, interests and lots of other personal details, all written on the cup. This was an experiment to show how easily we all leave ourselves wide open to identity theft.
Source: The web and two links:
http://imgur.com/gallery/PHzZX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrjT8m0hcKU

So beyond what I wrote above, there are other reasons to lock down everything in Facebook. I bet I'll get some heat on this post.

[UI]

Nah! I see it this way ...
If somebody downloads something from you then it's obvious they LIKED your ad enough to download it to give it a try. If you force them to SHARE it then others following them would see your ad and feel the same and download it too. Thus start the viral effect.

Ah! I get your point. What if they don't like it after trying it ? Then they recommended something to their followers which they didn't really like. Right ? In that case you have a point and I'll see if I can come across a workaround but I get the feeling you will give more philosophy to it (which I welcome). :wink:

At the top of my head, I can think of this ...
I can add a LIKE & SHARE feature on my own social network. I can give 2 sorts of buttons on each account holder:
TRYING OUT
LIKE/SHARE

You are forced to click the TRYING OUT button by the script before you can unlock content or download anything like software or ebook. That way, your followers get alerted what you are trying out (just like your followers get alerted when you LIKE/SHARE something).
The 2nd button is self explanatory. When you try something and like it then AND ONLY THEN you click the 2nd button so your followers get the message that you LIKED what you TRIED earlier. That way, your followers get a choice whether to TRY what you are TRYING.
Here, with the TRYING OUT button, you are only forced by the script to tell or auto notify your followers that you are TRYING OUT something. You still haven't LIKED it yet. Now, you might say, this TRYING OUT notification button is useless because your followers would not try it out but wait to try it out only after you have LIKED it. But, I say, a lot of your followers would assume that they may like it even if you don't. And so, a lot of your followers would TRY IT OUT and in the process be forced by the script to hit the TRYING OUT button before they can download it. And so, the viral effect would start and snow-ball.
Now, I really need to learn how to force with php like that. Apart from cURL, which aspect of php should I focus on to get this type of thing done (forcing to LIKE/SHARE) ?

Actually, while I write this message, a workaround has entered my mind. What is that aspect of php (which function) forces a visitor to click a button in order to proceed any further such as get a link become visible (so he can click the link and proceed) ?
Imagine this ...
You are reading an article.
You scroll right down to the end of the article.
You find a NEXT PAGE button and only when you click that then the link to the next page appears. You might be wondering, why doesn't the button just take the visitor to the next page ? Well, it can and I know how to code to do that but it doesn't suit my purpose. You see, if I can learn to code on how to get a button click to reveal a link to the next page then I can always replace that button with facebook LIKE button or G+ button or twitter tweet button which when clicked would take the visitor to the LIKED/SHARING landing page. Or wouldn't that do ?
I still haven't got an idea on how to figureout whether the visitor has LIKED/SHARED/TWEETED or not like I wanted him/her to do. They can easily click the button and then hit the back button on their browsers to cheat the system. Mmm.

Anyway, if anybody comes-up with a cheat-proof way then feel obliged to let everybody know about your clever viral feature idea.

Take care!

[happygeek]

If a download 'forced' me into sharing that ad/link with my social network I would run away from it faster than Usain Bolt with diarrhoea. I decide if I want to share something with my friends, not an ad network (ignoring the obvious argument about defualt social network advertising/privacy intrusions for now).

[UI]

HappyGeek,

Ok. Imagine you read an article on a social network and at the end you are forced to make a comment whether you liked it or not and the commenting is in the form of a thumps up or down. This is still a form of forcing but with a slight push and so most people won't mind hotting the LIKE/UNLIKE button. If they click the LIKE then they are given the next part of the article and the goodie download link. Else, they can click the UNLIKE and exit the article and they won't be forwarded to the goodie download page. This tactic might work. What do you say ? A lot of people will foirce themselves to click the LIKE button to get to the goodie download page. They won't complain the SN forced them to click since they have a choice to backoff and exit.

[gentlemedia]

I get this and it's a marketing technique and is used instead of giving an e-book or any other download totally for free, users/visitors have to share/tweet the free product before they can download it
There are several services which offer this already such as https://www.paywithapost.de/ which covers not only Twitter, but also the other well known social networks. It has an API and you can verify users https://www.paywithapost.de/learn_more.

[UI]

Thanks gentlemedia!

But, if you ever come across an upto date text/vid tutorial that teaches how to program in php to force people to SHARE/LIKE your stuffs before they can unlock content/pages or download anything then be my guest and suggest their links.

Thanks!

[AssertNull]

I don't necessarily have a gripe against "Do this in order to unlock content" schemes PROVIDED that you fully inform people upfront exactly what the requirements are. What ad folks do very often is demand things piecemeal. Thus I'm told I have to fill out a survey to access the content. It appears that the survey is one question, so I figure "Why not?" and fill out the one question. Then I get directed to ANOTHER question. Well okay, I answer that one. The another and another, each time thinking it's the last. I'm on the fourth question and I think there is only one more, so I fill it out because I really want to read this article and I think it's just around the corner. I would have bailed right away had I known I had to answer multiple questions, but bnow that I'm already committed...

Then the survey is over and they start asking for personal info, again piece by piece. Finally you say "To hell with this". However you've ALREADY given some personal information and whatever else.

That's the scam. And yes, it is a scam. As for how to code it, well it's not too difficult. You code it exactly as you would code it if you were being completely upfront with the user in the beginning and there was no gimmick. There's very little to add coding-wise EXCEPT that instead of collecting all the info and submitting at the end with the final "Submit" button like you would if you were, say, ordering something online, you do it as you go because you know it's a scam and the person will likely bail halfway through.

You "force" people to do something the exact same way as you would force them to do it if it was all on the up-and-up and you were entering into a legitimate agreement where you verified that they submitted what they were supposed to before unlocking the content with a cookie or a providing a code or whatever.

It sounds like if I "try out" something of yours, I have to commit to "liking" it. How can I commit to liking something BEFORE I have tried it out? How about I try it out, THEN I decide whether I like it. If I don't like it, then cut off my access.

You only force people to like something before they know whether they like it if you think people won't actually like it.

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and all that, but please explain a plausible alternate interpretation. Here's a decent litmus test for you. You asked whether, before experimenting with this code that supposedly does this, do we know if this code is safe? If this is a cynical venture trying to trick people into spreading whatever like a "virus" as you put it, people who put that stuff out are notorious for sticking a few unknown goodies in there that you don't know about, just like people who put out Script Kiddie software are notorious for infecting the Script Kiddies' computers. Why wouldn't they?

Devious folks put their devious viruses in legitimate software targetting legitimate folks, but less often. Now the litmus test. If you DID run this code and got burnt, would there be any sort of "Well that's karma for you" reaction? If so, there's a good chance you're not trying to do anything good. Second litmus test. Suppose you create this PHP code and want to share it with Daniweb. Would YOU be willing to run your own code?

The answer could be yes. Only you know your motives.

[gentlemedia]

Seriously, I don't think that you will find an up-to-date tutorial. This is one from 2011 http://tutorialzine.com/2011/05/tweet-to-download-jquery/ and still might work (only for Twitter). Other than that you'll have to get your hands dirty and just start coding the thing bit by bit with the OAuth from the SN's instead of using a ready made service such as the one I showed you.

[rproffitt]

This just in. Chinese 10,000 phone Like Farm. You can check it out on https://www.google.com/search?q=10%2C000+phone+like+farm

This is the other reason I don't put much value in likes. It can be faked and those that chase after likes are at a severe disadvantage if they don't have a big farm.

Hope you see where this is going.

[AssertNull]

This just in. Chinese 10,000 phone Like Farm.

I had NO idea that was how it was done. Looks impressive actually in a Rube Goldberg kind of way.

I've never understood the point. About seven people on the planet like me, including my mom and interestingly enough, two of my exes. But at least I know they actually like me. I did think of using a sock puppet account to get rid of my one neg rep post on Daniweb, but resisted the urge. If all of a sudden I have 20,000 rep points, you can assume it's a scam. Ditto Facebook and LinkedIn. How many people actually have 500+ real friends. When I see that, I never think "Wow, this guy must be awesome." More likely, fake votes and friends or voters/votees with a very low threshold for "liking" something/someone.

If I see 20 likes, I'll figure it's real. If I see twenty million, I'll assume it's either fake or a truly fantastic product, but in that case I'll see other things besides likes with no return address. You simply can't fake 20 million real likes. It'll be obvious if it's from bots.

But that picture is either really really cool or really really pathetic. From an engineering point of view, I'm going with really really cool.

Can't Facebook detect this?

[happygeek]

My name, email, life has been an open book on the Internet (and FidoNet, Prestel, Micronet, Cix, The Well et al before that) for close on 30 years. I was a launch contributing editor to (and wrote about a third of) the first UK Internet magazine in the UK (.Net) and wrote one of the first UK-published books about the thing in 1989. I'm listed in Wikipedia as an 'Internet Personality' and so on. I could care less about who 'likes' me online, and to be honest if I was at all sensitive to negative reviews/comments I would have been hanging from the rafters long since.

Likes are overrated. Content is still King.

Get the latter right, be that software, editorial or whatever, and the 'likes' will come by way of word of mouth without any need to force the user to do anything.

In answer to the question as to if I would hit a mandatory thumbs up/down button in order to read content the answer is no. At least, if I did find myself in such a system I would just downvote everything by way of protest...

Reminds me of domino's pizza when I wanted to leave a less than positive comment on their Facebook page due to the worst service I've ever had. I had to like the page first. What a load of shit.