The FeedBurner chiklet is one of my favorite blogging addons (I guess it could be considered a widget). It keeps track of the amount of daily subscribers and displays it in a nifty little image that you can put anywhere. It also has a nice RSS subscription link included. The point of this little tool is to show your readers the blog’s growth and development over time. Furthermore, new readers can see the amount of already subscribed readers to get an idea of the age or popularity of the blog which often dictates how long they stay around. It’s also not a bad ego booster and motivater for the blogger.
When you have a nifty little tool like this, however, there are going to be those who try to manipulate it. One way I’ve seen someone do this is by copying another (more popular) blog’s chiklet code and replacing the link with their own RSS.
Anyone Can Match TechCrunch’s Subscriber List
TechCrunch (as far as I know) has the biggest subscriber base out of all FeedBurner feeds. Right now Arrington has 283k subscribers, and all it takes is 5 minutes and you can too (at least as far as your visitors will know). Keep in mind that this *is* an exploit and is very lame.
How it’s Done
It’s not a complicated task at all; in fact, I’m surprised it’s so very easy. All one has to do is copy the image code from another blogger’s chiklet, change the colors/text if they like, and insert it into their own FeedBurner script. Just right click on the FeedBurner chiklet, and hit “Copy Image Location” (in FireFox) and paste it in Notepad or whatever. It should look something like this:
The URL leads to the real feed’s chiklet image. You can then change the colors and text on the chiklet simply by modifyinig the hex code for bg and fg. You can also change whether the image is animated or not as well as adding “&label=Readers” (or something along those lines) to change the displayed text.
You then just put in TechCrunch’s FeedBurner image URL like so:
[a href="http://www.netbusinessblog.com/kF"][img src="http://www.netbusinessblog.com/kG" height="26" width="88" style="border:0" alt="" /][/a]
*Replacing ][ with ><
It’s that easy. Now you have 283k subscribers (for today). The number will fluctuate same as TechCrunch’s. If you just photoshop a chiklet with a high amount of subscribers people would get suspicious that the numbers were always the same. With this exploit it looks entirely natural.
Why Would Someone Do This?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should do this. It’s extremely lame. Don’t try to fool people, just be honest. I can, however, see the logic behind someone wanting to use a more popular feed image.
Showing a larger subscriber count than what your blog has naturally makes your site seem more popular which unfortunately makes new visitors more likely to stick. Just as having a blog with “No Comments” written all over it, showing a FeedBurner chiclet with no subscribers can be just as bad. It turns people away in many cases.
On top of that it’s a great way to stroke your own ego.
Conclusion
This isn’t a horrible exploit or anything, but it does make the chiclet a lot less valuable in my opinion. One could simply replace the image with a more popular feed whenever they wanted, and most people would never know. After all, how often do you view a blog’s source or copy image locations at random? The only reason I saw this exploit being used was because I noticed someone who asked me for a blogroll link a few days ago was having the exact same RSS spikes as me (due to a Digg). I thought that was odd, so I checked out the chiclet image URL. Sure enough he was using my chiclet. I’m not going to call this guy out, that would be mean.
55 Comments
Add your commentNice post, but maybe 283K is a little bit exaggerated.
Reply to this comment
Ok, just so you know, you got me over here from digitalpoint.
Actually, it’s the year of the pig. :)
Reply to this comment
Very funny. So now we need to check netbusinessblog to get techcrunch stats, and crunchi to get your netbusinessblog stats. Who do we go to for crunchi stats?
This could lead to some bizzar follow the leader game.
Reply to this comment
Heh man, looks like that’s my invention now!
At first i meant to include image of blog much bigger like you did but then i tought it wont be real so i included image of your blog!
:)
Anyway, tnx for link!
Take care guys,
Cross
Reply to this comment
[...] i was checking out my Daily Blog Dose and I saugh on NetBusinessBlog that Matt Coddington came up that i took his feedburner picture and placed it on my [...]
Reply to this comment
I wondered what was up with that. I knew that your digged post couldn’t have given you that many readers that quick :-)
Reply to this comment
If only it did o_0
Reply to this comment
Funny trick, but now that everyone knows haven’t you lost the whole point of doing this?
– Phil
Reply to this comment
The point was to let everyone know, not keep it for myself. I’m not a fan of exploiting :)
Reply to this comment
[...] 23, 2007 at 3:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day A really lame (and ridiculously simple) FeedBurner bug lets anyone have as many subscribers as they [...]
Reply to this comment
phphlemon:
The point of posting this bug in public is to get it fixed. I’m sure feedburner is working on a solution now, to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future. It’s a common solution to bugs – if it’s public, the company is more likely to fix it in a hurry.
Reply to this comment
The man speaks truth.
Reply to this comment
Dang I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize you had threaded comments set up. I made the conversation look all goofy ;\ Gotta pay more attention next time.
Reply to this comment
Looks like Cross Black made a simple technical mistake – and good on him for holding is hands up – but I notice that he’s still not fixed it!
Reply to this comment
Should i fix it?
lol
Reply to this comment
Probably! :)
Reply to this comment
Hey man that was a nice one … but yes 283K was a little too much :-)
Reply to this comment
Yep this is being used by many new blogs arround us to fool us
Reply to this comment
[...] of netbusinessblog wrote how he get 283K readers in 1 day in one of his previous blog entry. Topic is so catchy that I quickly run through the guide but end [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Truthfully, you can increase your RSS reader count in the length of time that it takes you to upload your new code for the Feedburner widget. It may be true, but it’s not that honest. Matt has explained in great detail the methods that a not so honest blogger can use to mask his RSS subscribers. Sadly, it actually works to get people reading your blog – Matt explains it all, go read it: http://www.netbusinessblog.com/2007/02/22/how-i-got-283k-subscribers/ [...]
Reply to this comment
How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day » Net Business Blog…
How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day » Net Business Blog…
Reply to this comment
[...] a way to manipulate the little Feed Burner numbers (without using photoshop!). The method outlined here is probably not the preferred, or most ethical, way in which to boost your feed stats, but it would [...]
Reply to this comment
What’s the point using TechCrunch’s feedburner readers count, since it’s not urs? To cheat ? to show off ?
Reply to this comment
Yes.
Reply to this comment
When I started my new blog project a while back, I didn’t put the Counter chicklet up, because I had no subscribers. Now that I have recently joined a Feedburner network, my visits and subscribers are growing nicely.
If you are interested in Getting Things Done please check it out. (/shameless plug)
Reply to this comment
[...] If you want to be evil, you can fake a RSS feed count by displaying someone else’s Chicklet number. Net Business Blog wrote about how to do that in How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day. [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Now, to get things over to the subject of blogging, RSS feed subscribers can be a good indication whats popular and whats not but like I said: Dont believe everything you see. [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Now, to get things over to the subject of blogging, RSS feed subscribers can be a good indication whats popular and whats not but like I said: Dont believe everything you see. [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Turns out the Feedburner chiclet that shows how many RSS subscribers you have is super easy to fake by putting someone else’s Feedburner code with your feed URL. See How I Got 283K RSS Subscribers. [...]
Reply to this comment
????RSS?????????…
……
Reply to this comment
[...] 4.- John Chow wrote a story that should help you out increase your RSS subscriptions. I prefer the lame way. [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] 4.- John Chow wrote a story that should help you out increase your RSS subscriptions. I prefer the lame way. [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] trying to learn how to blog. I seriously cracked up when I read the article about how to get 283,000 feed subscribers in one day. It really funny and gives you a few evil ideas. You can find articles about affiliate marketing, [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] (frontpaged, buried) Do You Have the Designer’s Eye? » Net Business Blog (frontpaged, buried) How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day » Net Business Blog (never made it, but had the [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] weeks ago, I read Matt’s “How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day.” The way he did it was to take TechCrunch’s FeedBurner FeedCount chicklet and put it [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] how many websites I have visited with fake subscriber counts. According to Matt Coddington from Net Business Blog it is also just as easy to find out if someone is cheating. Stumble it! Enter your email [...]
Reply to this comment
Interesting. It is a really simple thing to exploit, and I’m sure there are a few people out there doing it. I don’t really see a solution, unfortunately.
Reply to this comment
That is funny trick but I don’t think it would be very helpful for getting more subscribers.
Reply to this comment
[...] (frontpaged, buried) Do You Have the Designer’s Eye? » Net Business Blog (frontpaged, buried) How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day » Net Business Blog (never made it, but had the [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Before I get labeled as being a rip-off by others I’ll point out a similar article done by Net Business Blog. I got the idea for the post a while back, part of my “to write list”. I don’t [...]
Reply to this comment
China Tourism…
another blog I was looking at…
Reply to this comment
Simply Superb!
Reply to this comment
I see this as a better way to encourage feeds subscription as people tend to go with the crowd
Reply to this comment
I think that big a number will make it obvious to the visitors that the blog owner is lying. One just has to check Alexa for traffic stats and it will be clear.
Reply to this comment
Cheap phentermine diet pill.
Cheap phentermine. Guaranteed lowest price cheap phentermine online. Buy cheap online phentermine. Phentermine cheap. Cheap phentermine cod. Buy cheap phentermine now save.
Reply to this comment
[...] a good amount of readers then switch back to your own chicklet number. For a detailed post, read this. If you want readers to sign up for your rss then you need to ask them to do so. The best way to [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] to learn how he stole our feed count? Check out this post, How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day. var [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] Just like they taught over at Net Business Blog, it’s still easy to get thousands of subscribers instantly. [...]
Reply to this comment
Ok now this is really, and i mean REALLY nasty. Nice found ;)
Reply to this comment
[...] Now let me introduce to you my final and the most effective trick. As all of you might know that FeedBurner offers a nice chicklet that displays the number of RSS readers on your blog. Do Not Use That Chicklet if you have a low amount of readers. This is quite natural that people will not subscribe if they see such low amount. I am not trying to be harsh, rather I am trying to help you out, this is how the human brain works. If you want to increase that amount then I would suggest that you display someone else?s chicklet number by simply copying their image from their blog and when you have succeeded in getting a good amount of readers then switch back to your own chicklet number. For a detailed post, read this. [...]
Reply to this comment
That guy gets http://gator216.hostgator.com/suspended.page/
Reply to this comment
soo… bloggero say all
Reply to this comment
[...] How to get 283k Feed Subscribes in one Day [...]
Reply to this comment
[...] How I Got 283k Feed Subscribers in 1 Day [...]
Reply to this comment
It’s so easy, you should write an ebook about it and slap it with $1 tag. It’ll spread like wildfire, and it should prompt feedburner to tweak their system more.
Hail the power of the internet.
Reply to this comment
Add Your Comment