Do the daily post every day and share every news story and update on Facebook and Twitter. That'll get you more points. I've been here a month and have been doing that and I'm at level 50 without a single friend boosting my score. I would be 51 if I could find 2 of the newsletters that never arrived in my mailbox.
There's no doubt that some people have just spammed alt accounts, but it's easy enough to level. If you make a contribution to a good forum thread then you'll probably win a weekly award at some point as well. I already have.