Slashdot Mirror
Inside Social Media's Fake Fan Industry
jfruh writes "It's an open secret that many high-profile users of social media networks pay to pad their fan counts. But what you do you get for your money? One blogger decided to shell out some cash to find out. Instead of the real human fans he was promised, he found himself followed by a motley collection of obvious fakes created by non-English speakers and accounts that seem to mainly exist to spam porn links."
Big deal, there's fake people on the internet.
The actual problem here is the value that is placed on having a high number of followers, likes or whatever. Back in the MySpace days this was simply a bunch of teenagers who wanted to claim some vague kudos through having more "friends" than others, but these days the marketing industry has latched on to it and people/companies are placing a real financial value on it. This is a problem - it's a bubble in the making, and when it pops there are going to be some pretty bitter recriminations and a lot of money lost.
So if you want to collect lots of followers, fine, it's up to you. But if you believe there's any financial value in it then I've got some tulips you may be interested in purchasing as an investment...
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
That I am shocked, yes, shocked at this despicable behavior. Next your going to tell me that it doesn't make any difference if I vote for Obama, Romney or the tooth fairy.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
first
It would have been apropos in this instance to post a porn link.
is even popular is because every one can now become a celebrity in their own little delusional world. Lucky for me I don't get social media, I'd rather stay obscure as BeOS.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Facebook's sponsored links are no better these days...wrapping you around multiple malware sites for the illusion of free tickets to Dark Knight Rises...takes less than two clicks to find either boobs or 'three of these offers must be completed plus five subsequent offers but never'... Imagine that...people believing everything they read on the internet... Or how i purchased a Hulu account with some thought that it would reduce the number of commercials...which actually increased (i apparently only purchased the ability to watch on my PS3????) Telling people that others will like them if they pay money...SMH
There are three kinds of people in the world. Those that can count, and those that can't.
I'm bemused that the story about people padding their fan list is broken up into four separate screen pages, with only 5 paragraphs on the first page (I didn't bother to go any further), but the story itself was prefaced with an ad, had 8 full-fledged ad blocks on the main page, plus many more blocks with links to other stories and the various "Like me on X" buttons.
+1 very nice and informative article. if you are interested in a similar topic, please be checking my blog here...
Please, also pay me money to prove that if I throw you off a building you will fall towards the Earth!
Cheapskate got what he paid for.
Clearly he bought on the low end, realistic fakes cost extra.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
He bought some fake accounts and quoted another article. That is like me buying a joint and quoting someone I read about on the internet and calling it an inside look at the world of drugs.
You can buy fake accounts... that is the article and those fake accounts?!? They ain't real!!!
If this article amazes you with its starting information and deep insights... actually, considering mainstream news these days, it is pretty damn deep. Mind you compared with main stream media, the lakes on mars are deep too. AND I KNOW THERE IS NO WATER ON MARS and please don't quote that with a picture of the mars rover and call it an amazing insight into the geography of mars.
Next week: Gold sellers are active in MMO's. After the commercial: Cheaters cheat in games!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
According to StatusPeople, more than 70 percent of President Barack Obama's 19 million Twitter followers were either fake or inactive accounts.
Obanga must be desperate to appear popular.
On Facebook, high profile users not only pay to get more followers, but once they do, they must pay again to actually communicate with them. Unless you pay, FB only lets postings go to a few hundred followers. If you want more people to see your post, you have to pay a fee to "promote" your post. If you have 1 million followers, it can cost close to $1k per posting.
During the dotcom bubble, companies were ridiculed for business plans that were based entirely on "selling eyeballs". FB has taken the same business concept to next level. I'd like to see an independent audit of Facebook's DAU metric and their 1 billion MAU claim. The company asserts that only about 8% of user profiles are fake and no analysts challenge that statistic. Clearly, it is not in Facebook's interest to weed out fake accounts; on the contrary, their revenue depends on them.
You might have noticed Facebooks promote button recently.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back explains it better than I can
Now when you post something on your wall facebook will only notify 15% of your friends of your post unless you choose to promote it and they want serious money to do so.
As an experiment i posted a link to the dangerous minds story and asked my friends to comment if they saw that post. well that was around 10 hours ago and so far only 1 friend bothered to comment and they posted the link to me in the first place!
You can try your own experiments and see if you can find the reach of your posts. For companies who have built a following on facebook this quite disastrous but if your using facebook to keep in touch with friends and family, good luck with that because facebook isn't letting you do that anymore either if my experiment is anything to go by.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
I paid for real humans dammit, not this fake rubber shit!
First off, not all followers are the same. "Followers" are not a comodity like "corn" or "wheat." If you buy on sites like Fiverr, seriously, what do you expect to get for $5? Your'e going to get fake accounts. People are paying to have their follower number increased from 15 to 515. Almost nobody inspects your follower list to evaluate whether your followers are legit or not. Almost everyone who is successful knows there is an element of "Fake it til you make it" and I have at least one friend who became successful and wealthy all from promoting himself and buying followers. Odds are some of you would know his name or his company. If your product is decent/passable and you have a million followers, you're going to seem pretty legit in the eyes of the average joe. So while I don't think buying followers works for most people, it does work.
Separately, you now have sites like klout where your score is partly based upon how many followers you have. Sweet. Now you get perks, free stuff, and job/interview opportunities, all as a result of some wisely invested money.
I have visited your blog for the first time and found it a well organized blog. Keep sharing nice stuff. Following are my blogs. You can join me there . . .
Watch Indian And Pakistani Dramas Free Online
Hd Quality Dramas
Indian Dramas Written Updates
Watch Pakistani Talk Show
Prize Bond/
Technology news
Result
Thailand Lotto
... so much like buying WOW gold?