To the person or people who created the Facebook page that posted the picture I have embedded in this blog, “stop it. Just stop it now. Please stop using battered and bruised kids to attracted more followers to your Facebook page. It is sick.

And look at the cheap line you are using to get these followers;

Are you Against CHILD ABUSE LIKE – YES! IGNORE – NO

Really? Really? That’s the way you want to play this? You are sick.”

Now to the rest of you, the people reading my blog that aren’t using pictures of children who have been abused just to get cheap thrills, here is some information that I think you should know.

Whilst this disgusting Facebook page has over 100,000 followers it has over 366,000 people talking about it.

People who have Facebook pages associated with their local business or place, their company, organisation or institution, their brand or product, their band, or themselves as an artist or public figure, their cause or community, or like in my case, their personal blog want as many followers as they can get. More than that, they want as many people who follow them to engage with the page.

For the most part, legitimate Facebook pages associated with those things I mentioned above have more people following than talking about them. I just went and checked some I follow and you cannot put a percentage on how many followers to how many people are talking about (engaged with) that Facebook page, it can be that minute. One had around 70,000 followers with 20,000 people engaged, one had 7,000,000 followers but only 5,000 people engaged. One I follow has just over 12,000 at the time of writing with almost 11,000 people engaged, but seeing this Facebook page is all about being a proactive user, that made perfect sense.

So how do you get more people talking about (or engaged with) a Facebook page than following it. It’s simple; you just post one of those LIKE IF YOU HATE CANCER pictures that guilt people into pressing like. Each time a friend of yours likes that picture it shows in your news feed. And if you’re like me (or like how I used to be with these) you might comment on them like the people I have captured in that photo above with negativity towards the person or people who run this Facebook page.

But they don’t care about. They don’t care about getting people angry, or having people call them names. All they care about is how many followers and how many people they can engage. All they care about is how many people they can guilt into pressing like, or share or making comments so that their friends will also get the chance to like or share or comment.

I don’t know who they are competing against, but I feel like there MUST be a competition. Possibly they are just competing with themselves. “How good am I? Look at how many dumb people I have suckered into liking this picture.

So here’s the bit where you sit back and say “but aren’t you just as bad because YOU have used this picture to suck people into reading?” No, but I’m glad you’ve asked. Whether it is professional media outlets reporting news about abused kids, organisations that are actually created to stop child abuse, or even bloggers like me who are trying to make a positive impact on this world by making people think, we need to use these graphic images as part of our stories to show what we are talking about. I couldn’t have posted this blog without it.

“What about the picture of Kiesha Weippeart (Abrahams) that you used in you story The Ten Commandments of Parenting? (And republished on iVillage Australia). Sure she isn’t abused in that photo, but it’s the same thing knowing what happened to her.” My blog, whilst using humour in some of my posts, whether they be outright (intentionally) humorous articles or serious ones that use some humour to make a point, is not for the sole purpose of entertainment. This blog, like many other (dad or mum) bloggers’ blogs have agendas. We may be single parents, parents of special needs children, or dads trying to prove that we are not buffoons as shown in many types of media and advertising. For the most part; This. Is. Serious.

Now I have stumbled over these images so many times because many of my Facebook friends keep liking and sharing or making comments. Stop it. STOP. IT. NOW.

To the mother I am friends with who likes or shares the LIKE IF YOU HATE CANCER pictures; I know you hate cancer. We all hate cancer. DO NOT facilitate these sick people’s twisted and wicked game.

To the father I am friends with who likes or shares the LIKE IF YOU HATE CHILD ABUSE pictures; I know you are not an abuser of your children. I know how much you love them. I see the photos you post, I see the words that you use when you are so proud of them. DO NOT let the scum-bags who produce this crap to continue this. If you stop liking and sharing, they will go away.

One like DOES NOT = One prayer.

One share DOES NOT = a $1 donation.

One comment DOES NOT = your support

One like DOES NOT = respect

If you want to respect these children, you know what, STOP SHARING THESE PHOTOS. Photos like these are often stolen and many times are NOT from child abuse victims, they are often from kids her got hurt playing or fighting with other kids. Click here to read more about this.

I’m going to leave the final word to one of my fellow Dad Bloggers.