NYC hookers 'selling sex on Facebook'

Washington, Feb 10 (ANI): A sociology professor at Columbia University has revealed that New York City's sex workers are now increasingly plying their trade on Facebook, after popular classifieds website Craigslist shut its Erotic Services section last year.

Sudhir Venkatesh, who has been analyzing trends of the world's oldest profession, estimates that the average escort now finds 25 percent of clients through Facebook, reports Fox News.

"Even before the crackdown on [Craigslist's] adult-services section, sex workers were turning to Facebook: 83 percent have a Facebook page, and I estimate that by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading on-line recruitment space," Venkatesh wrote in Wired.

Facebook allows a sense of independence letting prostitutes "control their image, set their prices, and sidestep some of the pimps, madams, and other intermediaries who once took a share of the revenue," said Venkatesh.

The professor notes that the transition has been occurring for some time, but with Craigslist officially out of the picture, Facebook is fast becoming the one-stop shop when it comes to paying for sex.

The finding has been published in the latest issue of Wired Magazine. (ANI)