Burger King much-discussed Facebook action dates back one year, but seemed interesting in the light of our social network blogging. In January 2009, the global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants launched an application they baptized “The Whopper Sacrifice.” Back then, people could get a burger for free if they “de-friended” 10 of their Facebook-friends.
In the end, Burger King had to pull the plug on its campaign. Why? Because deleted friends were not informed personally, but, instead, an update was posted on both the defriender and defriended’s Facebook timelines. It was this timeline-feature which constituted the viral mechanism of Burger King’s ad campaign, however, it conflicted with Facebook’s policy. The American fast food chain decided not to conform to Facebook’s protocol, but deactivated its application instead.
Since the love for a Whopper was stronger than 233,906 friendships, an interesting characteristic of social networking sites was unveiled: most friendships are not even worth 1/10 of a burger.
