ANYONE asked to undertake unpaid work can exchange Facebook ‘likes’ for food under a new government initiative.

A pilot scheme in East London saw unsalaried journalists, musicians and designers queueing to exchange retweets and post-comments-generated for biscuits, coffee and beer.

Tom Logan, who writes a cross-platform football column for a massive global media company said, “For the last year I have donated my services for free to ‘prove my commitment to the project going forward’. Consequently I lost rather too much weight.

“Swapping twenty-five Twitter followers for a bacon sandwich gives me the calorific intake needed to keep working for an employer who in the current economic climate can’t afford to pay me, except by letting me showcase my work.”

Music blogger Helen Archer exchanged the 257 replies to her comment that Kate Bush is a goddess for toilet rolls and cat food.

She said: “In the social media age it is all about exposure. Unfortunately shops, power companies and the like are still hanging on to the old money-based way of doing things.

“I tried to pay my gas bill with a guarantee of 25 Facebook shares, but the woman at SSE just stared at me as if I was some sort of charlatan.”