In a strange TechCrunch article by BlitzLocal CEO Dennis Yu – that was met by even more bizarre praise of Dennis Yu for sharing his information, while being met with little contempt – the former FaceBook spammer explains how to trick people in order to make money.

Dennis Yu of BlitzLocal states, "I finally came to this realization: People on Facebook won’t pay for anything. They don’t have credit cards, they don’t want credit cards, and they are not interested in shopping. But you can trick them into doing one of three things:

• Download a toolbar: It could be spyware (such as Zango) or something more legitimate, such as Webfetti or Zwinkys.
• Give up their email address: You’ve won a “free” camera or perhaps you’ve been selected as a tester for a new Macbook Pro (which you get to keep at the end of the test). Just tell us where you want us to ship it.
• Give up their phone number: You took the IQ Quiz, so give us your phone number and we’ll tell you your score. Never mind that you’ll get billed $20 a month or perhaps be tricked into inviting 10 other friends to beat your score."

Note: According to the TechCrunchies the FaceBook income distribution as of December 3, 2008 was:

Facebook:
Income>$60K : 65%
Income>$75K : 51%
Income>$100K : 33%

Source: Income Levels at MySpace and FaceBook users at TechCrunchies.com

Of course, demographics on FaceBook have been changing over the years, so that data may or may not be relevant although it would seem to cover a time period close to the time period that BlitzLocal CEO Dennis Yu discusses in his article.

Dennis Yu of BlitzLocal later goes on to make this statement:

"Here’s what ad networks struggle  with—to either run what ads make the most money or else be forced out by other ad networks willing to be shadier than them."

REALLY? There's no "third alternative"? I mean, don't MANY companies in MANY fields (that don't ultimately resort to incredibly shady tactics) have to deal with this issue EVERY SINGLE DAY?

And what exactly are the ad networks being "forced out of"? I'd love to hear EXACTLY what he meant by that.

Maybe what's more confusing is whether or not Dennis Yu even believes all of that or not, because later in the comments section he says to Jeremy Palmer of QuitYourDayJob.com the following:

"Jeremy,

Thanks for the kind words. See you at ASW in Vegas?

And it’s not to say all ad networks are scammers– there are good and bad ones, just like in any industry. You just have to watch out for certain types of offers and business practices."

Wait, didn't Dennis make this statement in the article:  "Here’s what ad networks struggle  with—to either run what ads make the most money or else be forced out by other ad networks willing to be shadier than them."

What's most telling in the TechCrunch article, though are these comments by BlitzLocal CEO Dennis Yu:

• "If you want to provide the pristine user experience, you’re taking a massive hit to your earnings, maybe can’t pay your mortgage, or whatever. How do you feel about that?"
• "You hit the nail on the head. We’re going the “straight-laced” route because it actually will make more money in the long run."

Read that LAST statement carefully. Doesn't it seem like Dennis Yu of BlitzLocal is implying that if it were more profitable to continue to run a shady business that's what he would do?

Also enjoyable was what appears to be BlitzLocals' Dennis Yu's attempt at a pre-emptive strike at his critics by saying, "The nature of your reaction probably says something about what you do"…and of course the usual attack on critics as “bogus moral posturing”.

In the article, I didn't see any evidence of Dennis claiming to change his ways because it was the right thing to do. Instead he pointed out that it was more profitable to go straight, and also suggested people take a look at his list of clients, which I thought was a good idea, so here they are:

• Boulder Massage Therapy and Stress Management Services
• Quiznos
• Midwest Landscape Engineering (testimonial from Jason Cade)
• Doletry Law Partners
• Eric Reeder – Animal Products Plus

Yep, certainly a pretty impressive list of clients, so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Read the original TechCrunch article here, (which strangely is extremely mundane and obvious considering the amount of of accolades posted in the comments section).