Could you have figured out which of these was real and which was the fake Twitter accounts?
The thought of having your Twitter profile copied by a Twitter-bot is a bit unsettling, but as this technology gets smarter and smarter, it’s more than likely going to start happening more and more as some people are paying for Twitter followers:
If you take a closer look (click for larger), they even offers a 5-year protection plan! Crazy!
I think Twitter needs to begin cracking down on this before it becomes polluted with so many bots, that the network loses all of its value.
Here’s a closer look at Twitter’s “underground economy”:
[Click for Larger]
This is a little creepy, isn’t it?
Is Twitter even real? LOL!
Do you know how many fake followers you have?
Now, I need to find some awesome Twitter tools to clean-up the ChurchMag Twitter account…
You can read more about fake Twitter followers on the Barracuda Labs website.
[via Social Media Today and Inc. Magazine]
Rachel Blom says
I noticed a few weeks ago that my Twitter follower count was suddenly way up. Turned out I was being followed by about 200 creepy Russian accounts, all with profile pics of scarcely dressed women. I literally went through the whole list and removed them one by one, couldn’t find an easier way to do it. I hate these kind of practices and I completely agree with you that Twitter should crack down hard on fake followers and people buying followers. Seriously, what’s wrong with people?
Eric Dye says
I’M SAYIN’!
tpaulding says
I don’t care much. I think it is lame and devalues the network BUT…
1. I don’t care about follower counts, mine or yours. So the bots don’t matter impact me there.
2. I use lists extensively so fake followers or followers that I don’t see any connection to don’t get in a list or maybe not even followed back. I don’t see their tweets.
3. If I get followed or mentioned by a clearly fake/spam account I block & report and move on.
All that being said, it seems like if Twitter cared they could easily hinder this practice. I’m sure at the Twitter headquarters they still care about total number of users and are happy seeing that number climb.
Eric Dye says
Yup-yup.