70% of Obama’s Twitter Followers are Fake Accounts

[pirate_girl]

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]

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

 

[Smoochy]

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]

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

 

[pirate_girl]

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

 

[Smoochy]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Smoochy]

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]

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]

So how does the industry monetise "fake accounts"

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

 

[Av8r3400]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.