NYT article on fake Twitter accounts

dudara

I’ve just finished reading an article from the New York Times on the topic of fake Twitter accounts, or “bots”. While I always knew that people bought followers, I must admit to being gobsmacked at how widespread the practice is. Why would anyone who is trying to run a decent business or brand do this?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html

njs030

dudara wrote: »

I’ve just finished reading an article from the New York Times on the topic of fake Twitter accounts, or “bots”. While I always knew that people bought followers, I must admit to being gobsmacked at how widespread the practice is. Why would anyone who is trying to run a decent business or brand do this?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html

The make up fairy is renowned for this, she treats herself to a few thousand on a regular basis including Christmas day which was quite sad when you think about it.
It's more expensive to get likes and comments so that's why she has a lot of followers but very little interaction. Have a look at her instagram if you want to see an example.

The reasoning of course is brands are more likely to emply you/send you free stuff if they think they're reaching a wider audience.

dudara

I know Social Blade will show follower increases / decreases, but that is all it tells us. We can only infer as to they why. Is there any way for us to tell if they are “bought” or at least suspicious? The graphs in that NYT article where you could clearly see the age profile of the bot accounts was very insightful. I wonder if there is any tool online to show those results?

njs030

It's quite suspicious when she has regular jumps of close to exactly 1000 or 500 when more popular bloggers like so sue are losing in the wake of the photoshop debacle.

Caranica

I manage a big social media account and spend a lot of time blocking bots. Real followers matter not fake ones. Just wish twitter made it easier to do.

dudara

I think all this publicity is going to force Twitter to make changes.

I don’t know if this is just me, but I see a lot less fake accounts on Instagram than I used to. They seem to have improved their game and hopefully Twitter will also.

For me, content is king, and I enjoy bloggers and people who create content. I don’t enjoy the “soap lifestyle” influencers as they don’t create any content of value (IMO), I don’t enjoy people who simply regurgitate press releases or constantly RT the work of others. I think we need to reward people who create content and ignore/unfllow anyone who doesn’t. The message needs to get across that numbers don’t mean a damn if you’re not actually adding anything to to the world.

fattymuatty

dudara wrote: »

I think all this publicity is going to force Twitter to make changes.

I don’t know if this is just me, but I see a lot less fake accounts on Instagram than I used to. They seem to have improved their game and hopefully Twitter will also.

For me, content is king, and I enjoy bloggers and people who create content. I don’t enjoy the “soap lifestyle” influencers as they don’t create any content of value (IMO), I don’t enjoy people who simply regurgitate press releases or constantly RT the work of others. I think we need to reward people who create content and ignore/unfllow anyone who doesn’t. The message needs to get across that numbers don’t mean a damn if you’re not actually adding anything to to the world.

I completely agree on content being king. We could all have top follower numbers if we all just reposted the work of others. I think people don't appreciate how long it can take to make great content, to see it knicked then especially when they don't even bother to credit is irksome to say the least.

It bothers me when I see people in my genre come along and repost the best photos(I use insta most) and in a matter of months get to 50k+ followers off the back of everyone elses work. I can't count the number of times I have seen my photos being used getting 1000s of likes for the person who reposted it and they don't even have the decency to credit and I can't count the number of times I have been nice and said 'I love when people repost my photos but if you could credit me it would be great ' only to find myself blocked.

It sucks but people don't seem to care. I only follow people who create their own content, people who genuinely love what they do and who are happy to spread knowledge and help those who take the time to follow and engage with their followers.