70% of Obama’s Twitter Followers are Fake Accounts

pirate_girl · Aug 25, 2012

He’s the “social media president,” having been the first one in the modern era to take full advantage of the ways the Internet can connect politicians to people. But a new study reveals that 70% of President Obama’s 19 million twitter followers are completely fake.

President Obama’s Twitter account has 18.8 million followers — but more than half of them really don’t exist, according to reports.

A new Web tool has determined that 70% of Obama’s crowd includes “fake followers,” The New York Times reports in a story about how Twitter followers can be purchased.

“The practice has become so widespread that StatusPeople, a social media management company in London, released a Web tool last month called the Fake Follower Check that it says can ascertain how many fake followers you and your friends have,” the Times reports.

http://patriotupdate.com/28363/heh-70-of-obamas-twitter-followers-are-fake-accounts

Melensdad · Aug 25, 2012

Apparently this is very common with Twitter accounts that have huge followings.

Smoochy · Aug 25, 2012

Melensdad said:
Apparently this is very common with Twitter accounts that have huge followings.

It is. It's not surprising one bit, honestly.

Romney had quite a few fake accounts under his twitter. As does a lot of mainstream music artists (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and etc...). Just a popularity scheme.

cdajen · Aug 25, 2012

I've never used twitter. I don't really understand it's allure.

pirate_girl · Aug 25, 2012

Nor have I.. and thanks to Bob and Smoochy for the info.
Ya learn something new everyday!

Smoochy · Aug 25, 2012

cdajen said:
I've never used twitter. I don't really understand it's allure.

Ditto. I have an account, but I've only logged into it maybe 3 times, and that was over a year ago.

Kane · Aug 25, 2012

Melensdad said:
Apparently this is very common with Twitter accounts that have huge followings.

Help me out, Mel. How is a tweet faked? ... and how is it more common with huge followings?

Is the OP about fake followers no big deal, then, and it somehow happens regardless of the account holder?

Smoochy · Aug 25, 2012

Kane said:
Help me out, Mel. How is a tweet faked? ... and how is it more common with huge followings?

Is the OP about fake followers no big deal, then?

I know I'm not Mel, but basically there are generators that can make fake Twitter accounts and then these people (or their managers, whatever) can pay to have hundreds of thousands or more of these fake accounts "follow" their Twitter account to make it seem that they have more followers than they actually do.

It's something that almost all of the big Twitter pages with a few million followers do.

Kane · Aug 25, 2012

Smoochy said:
I know I'm not Mel, but basically there are generators that can make fake Twitter accounts and then these people (or their managers, whatever) can pay to have hundreds of thousands or more of these fake accounts "follow" their Twitter account to make it seem that they have more followers than they actually do.

It's something that almost all of the big Twitter pages with a few million followers do.

Well, I think tweeters should have to show photo ID. :whistling:

Smoochy · Aug 25, 2012

Kane said:
Well, I think tweeters should have to show photo ID.

It does get annoying. I don't use Twitter, so I'm not 100% certain I know how it works, but I know that's the gist of it. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber also have a ton of fake accounts following them.

FrancSevin · Aug 25, 2012

Smoochy said:
It does get annoying. I don't use Twitter, so I'm not 100% certain I know how it works, but I know that's the gist of it. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber also have a ton of fake accounts following them.

So how does the industry monetise "fake accounts"

I don't, won't, twitter. So I have no clue how it makes money.

But then Facebook gave me the same question.

Smoochy · Aug 25, 2012

FrancSevin said:
So how does the industry monetise "fake accounts"

That is the mystery. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Av8r3400 · Aug 26, 2012

I must be the only person on the planet that refuses to facebook, twitter or any of that bullcrap.

I see no purpose to any of these personal information publishers...

cdajen · Aug 26, 2012

I can't stand FB either. I only have a profile because it quieted my sisters rantings about NOT having a profile. I use it to get pictures of my niece and share article with a few people. I only check it a couple of times per month, or when my sister calls and yells at me.

Melensdad · Aug 26, 2012

Av8r3400 said:
I must be the only person on the planet that refuses to facebook, twitter or any of that bullcrap.

I see no purpose to any of these personal information publishers...

After resisting for a long time I finally joined Facebook. Then I installed the app on my smartphone and found out that ALL of my contact information got uploaded to Facebook!! I tried to quit Facebook but it apparently can't be done??? I deleted everything I could figure out how to delete, unfriended everyone, and have not been back since.

My wife and daughter were smarter than me (typical), neither of them ever joined Facebook.

Smoochy · Aug 26, 2012

Melensdad said:
After resisting for a long time I finally joined Facebook. Then I installed the app on my smartphone and found out that ALL of my contact information got uploaded to Facebook!! I tried to quit Facebook but it apparently can't be done??? I deleted everything I could figure out how to delete, unfriended everyone, and have not been back since.

That's one thing that sucks about once you sign up for Facebook, you can never delete it. You can deactivate your account, but it's never completely gone, which is kind of scary.

tiredretired · Aug 26, 2012

Av8r3400 said:
I must be the only person on the planet that refuses to facebook, twitter or any of that bullcrap.

I see no purpose to any of these personal information publishers...

You are not the only one Fred. I have no Facebook or Twitter account either.

Melensdad · Aug 26, 2012

Smoochy said:
That's one thing that sucks about once you sign up for Facebook, you can never delete it. You can deactivate your account, but it's never completely gone, which is kind of scary.

Which is why I "unfriended" everyone and also deleted all the photos I could get rid of (there were a few it woudn't let me delete!?!), etc. I may technically still be there, but there is not much of me there.

FrancSevin · Aug 26, 2012

Av8r3400 said:
I must be the only person on the planet that refuses to facebook, twitter or any of that bullcrap.

I see no purpose to any of these personal information publishers...

I refuse as well. After all I can post plenty of stupid things right here for posterity, lawyers and political opponents to find later.

pirate_girl · Aug 26, 2012

Melensdad said:
Which is why I "unfriended" everyone and also deleted all the photos I could get rid of (there were a few it woudn't let me delete!?!), etc. I may technically still be there, but there is not much of me there.

Same here.
When I first joined FB back when it was initially trendy to do so.. my profile stayed empty. I couldn't delete my account.. but could deactivate it.
Never tried to log back in for any reason.
As for Twitter, Tweeting, whatever the hell you call it.. never interested me to join in.

70% of Obama’s Twitter Followers are Fake Accounts

legendary ⚓

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator

New member

Bronze Member

legendary ⚓

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Proudly Deplorable

New member

Gone Flyin'

Bronze Member

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator

New member

The Old Salt

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator

Proudly Deplorable

legendary ⚓