When you're scrolling through Facebook, inwardly grunting at people’s need to update everyone on the minutiae of their day to day, how often do you see an engagement announcement?
The older you get the more likely you are to see these celebratory (aka braggy) posts littered across your feed. You may mindlessly hit 'like' to appease the happy couples you know, because it’s courtesy. A like is really the least you can do - you won’t even realise you’re doing it most of the time.
This bad 'liking' habit is the premise behind the experiment of a man named Zach. He wanted to see just how easily Facebook users will like a post without giving it more than a second’s attention, even engagement posts.
So, to test the waters, he posted a photo of him and a friend, Somaly, with the caption, ‘We finally made it official!!!’. He got hundreds likes on the fake announcement - as is expected with a post of its kind - and friends of his commented well wishes and congratulations.
Screenshots: Elite Daily
Then, to really test his audience, he posted a second engagement post of him with a different woman, with Somaly pictured crying in the background. He captioned it: ‘Wow! I couldn’t believe the overwhelming support I received online for getting engaged! So many of you liked my post that I went ahead and got engaged a second time! Thank you everyone for your encouragement!’
Enthralled by another great response from his Facebook friends, Zach took the joke a step further, posting yet another engagement post with a different woman. ‘Wow everyone!’ he wrote. ‘Thanks to your love and support online I was able to get engaged for a third time! So excited for our future together!!!’
He didn't stop there; he posted six more engagement posts with different women, all garnering a decent amount of likes and positive responses, despite his blatant mockery.
Zach had us fooled, and completely trolled the way people use social media to post tacky #humblebrags. It's time to do that annual Facebook cull, and reign in those courtesy likes.
We wonder what tricks Zach has up his sleeve for April Fools...