10? I could cut 50 easy

Earlier this week I wrote about where Social Media has taken The Brand Called You concept. I took issue with the practice of measuring your personal brand by how many Twitter followers or Facebook friends one has. I certainly wasn’t the first person to point this out, but merely part of what feels like a building wave.

The super sharp marketers at Burger King see it to and have created a genuis promotion: Whopper Sacrifice. Dump 10 Facebook Friends, get a free Whopper. The copy reads:

What would you do for a free Whopper? Now is the time to put your fair-weather web friendships to the test. Install Whopper Sacrifice on your Facebook profile and we’ll reward you with a free flame-broiled Whopper when you sacrifice 10 friends.

Here’s the best part, according to this Cnet story, the sacrifices will show up in your status, so everyone knows who you cut loose! 

You can feel the Social Media backlash coming, can’t you?  I’ll have another post on this shortly I hope, but I think selectivity might be the social media buzzword for 2009.