Whoever said money can’t buy friends is dead wrong…at least when it comes to the social networking site Facebook.

A new service called uSocial, which became available this week, offers the chance to purchase Facebook “friends” for the bargain price of $200 for 1,000 friends. If more is better (and more usually is), you can get 5,000 buds for the promotional rate of $654.30, lasting until mid-September.

Here’s how it works, according to the AP:

USocial logs in to a client’s Facebook profile or creates a new one. It seeks out people who would be a good fit—like car buffs if uSocial is trying to promote a specialty auto-parts company—and sends them friends requests tailored to that business. The requests don’t mention that uSocial is working on behalf of the business.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Facebook representatives say uSocial violates Facebook’s terms of service. They say that volunteering your account information makes the site less secure, and that doling out friend requests for someone else—as the uSocial service does—makes the social networking site less authentic. Plus, some critics warn that random”friend” requests could potentially really irritate Facebook users.

Sure, receiving “friend” requests from someone you’ve never met can get pretty annoying. But is Facebook really that authentic in the first place? Ask the person who has 2,000 so-called “friends”—no matter how they acquired them.

Related Content:
Discoblog: Stole a Piece of the Internets? Prepare to Be Arrested.
Discoblog: Worst Science Article of The Week: Twitter Will Make You Eeevil
Discoblog: Twitter to Replace World History in England Schools

Image: flickr / 4_eveR_younG