{"id":3169,"date":"2014-06-18T19:30:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T19:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/?p=3169"},"modified":"2023-09-18T12:07:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T11:07:21","slug":"attack-fake-twitter-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/attack-fake-twitter-followers","title":{"rendered":"Attack of the Fake Twitter Followers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little while back we noticed something strange going on with the Emoderation Twitter Account \u2013 our follower numbers had increased exponentially overnight.
\nWhile it\u2019s nice to think it was because of our amazing content, it didn\u2019t take much to see something was wrong. The rate of the increase was astronomical and a quick scroll through our new-found friends quickly revealed that many of them were spam accounts.
\nThe @emoderation<\/a> account had shot up from around 5,000 followers to around 25,000 followers over night and was increasing by hundreds every hour. It looked like someone had sent us tens of thousands of fake Twitter followers.<\/p>\n

More than just a number<\/h4>\n

We\u2019ve never paid for followers, would never condone that as a tactic and this situation presented us with a serious reputational risk<\/a>.
\nIt is however a fairly common tactic and there\u2019s plenty of instances of big names shelling out<\/a> for a boost to their numbers. The market for fake followers is big and it\u2019s getting cheaper to buy your way to a huge following.
\nBut is artificially increasing your follower count really that bad? We think it is.<\/strong> Buying followers (or Facebook Likes, Pinterest re-pins or YouTube views) might be easy to do but it\u2019s also risky.
\nBuying followers is a breach of Twitter\u2019s terms of service<\/strong>, so anyone who does this runs the risk of having their account suspended<\/a>. Considering the kind of companies that sell these services, your chances of getting a refund if this happens are slim.
\nFake followers pose a risk for your real followers<\/strong> through the phishing and spam links they tend to auto-post.
\nFake followers are useless for engagement <\/strong>apart from the initial follow, fake followers will never engage with your content in a meaningful way.
\nIt looks desperate and inauthentic. <\/strong>It\u2019s really easy to see how many of an account\u2019s followers are fake<\/a> and you can easily be found out.
\nAlso, the followers you paid for aren\u2019t likely to stick around forever – the accounts will die off over time as they get blocked and reported – taking your money with them.<\/p>\n

Spot the bot: Identifying fake Twitter accounts<\/h4>\n

Everyone gets followed by the occasional fake account and they\u2019re usually pretty easy to spot.
\nSpam Twitter accounts will usually show a combination of these signs:<\/p>\n