Facebook Powerball Hoax Breaks Share Record

A Facebook user originally from Arizona got his friends and acquaintances buzzing with excitement earlier this week as he claimed to have the second winning Powerball ticket. What’s more, he took a picture of himself with the ticket and posted it to his Facebook wall, and announced that if the picture was shared, he would give one lucky sharer at random a cool $1 million! What happened next has made Facebook history.

The man responsible for the prank, Nolan Daniels, is definitely NOT the second Powerball winner. That person has not yet come forward to claim their prize, despite much speculation regarding their identity. Nolan Daniels faked the Powerball ticket and then posted it to his wall on Thursday evening, with the caption:

“Looks like I won’t be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!”

Naturally, people from all over the world started to share the picture – as well as flood Mr. Daniel’s page with statuses begging for money – and by Monday morning, the photo had received a record breaking 2 million shares across the social network! Facebook have confirmed this is the most widely shared photo ever, according to the Savannah Morning News, with the most shared item until now being the New York Times interactive earthquake piece, which gained 600,000 shares. Nolan’s photo gained 2,027,530 shares – that’s 1 from every 500 users on Facebook – all from people desperate to gain as slice of Nolan’s supposed money.

This isn’t the first time social media has been used alongside a big lottery jackpot in an attempt to reach a larger audience. Recently, we reported on the cafe owner from Keighley, West Yorkshire, who took a picture of his Euromillions ticket and claimed he would share any jackpot with anyone who liked the photo. You can read more about this story here, in our News Archive.

But is Nolan’s story hilarious or horrid? Should Mr. Daniel’s be punished for what he did, or should we be more worried about the individuals who are so desperate for money they will beg from total strangers? Maybe this video of the incident will help you make up your mind.