Why The FaceSmash.com Auction Is a Hoax

While bidding heats up for Facebook's original domain name FaceMash.com, the interest has spawned at least one copycat fake. An eBay seller is offering the domain FaceSmash.com for auction. Bidding is currently at $710 but is yet to reach the reserve price, with six days and 22 hours to go. The eBay account facesmashdomain appears to have been created specially for the purpose, not just because of the name but also because it has zero feedback. The information on the eBay listing says: "FaceSmash.com is the original domain name that Mark Zuckerberg used for what is now the billion dollar company Facebook.com. FaceSmash.com is mentioned in the recently released movie, The Social Network, and there are thousands of references (check google news) to FaceSmash.com in blogs, movie reviews, and newspaper articles. Part of the proceeds of this auction will go to charity. Payment is due upon the end of the auction. Payment is to be via certified check or money order." There are no details on what portion of the proceeds would go to charity or where it would go. The listing has a number of links to news articles - some broken - and it's true that if you Google the word "FaceSmash" you'll get quite a few result. However, this is only because of the number of times it has been misspelled in news stories. In reality, the original domain name for Facebook was not FaceSmash but FaceMash - as shown by this 2003 article in The Harvard Crimson. The real domain name, FaceMash.com, is also up for sale. It was snapped up after Mark Zuckerberg apparently let it expire in 2007 and is now being auctioned on Flippa. So far there have been five bids and the auction has reached its reserve price. The current price is $19,000, with 18 days and 9 hours to go and the 'buy it now' price is $125,000. Is it just me or do both FaceMash and FaceSmash sound kind of violent? It would be cool to own a bit of internet history by picking up the FaceMash domain, but personally I wouldn't pay any sort of money for it without thoroughly checking out any legal limitations on its use. Thanks to Michael Hochman of the Philly Jobs Blog for the tip!

Social Pro Daily

Why The FaceSmash.com Auction Is a Hoax

While bidding heats up for Facebook's original domain name FaceMash.com, the interest has spawned at least one copycat fake.

Caitlin Fitzsimmons

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Caitlin Fitzsimmons