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Ghost followers

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Ghost followers, also referred to as ghosts and ghost accounts or lurkers, are users on social media platforms who remain inactive or do not engage in activity. Ghost followers register on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. These users follow active members, but do not partake in liking, commenting, messaging, and posting. These accounts can be created by people or by social bots. When looking at a social media account, the account with the most followers could be interpreted as credible. These ghost followers can cause the illusion that an account is more popular than it actually is, which can be misleading.

Ghost follower scams

Ghost followers are fake or inactive accounts created by scammers who serve various purposes. Ghost followers often create fictional profiles and use them to target and scam others. This includes, giving the illusion of popularity or credibility, or is can be more direct by targeting unsuspecting individuals. The rise of these accounts has increasing become a issue on social media platforms. Follower count is seen as indicators of status or influence.

Commercial services provide the ability to buy Instagram followers, most of which are ghosts. Individuals are paid to follow accounts but are not required to engage with them. Those seeking publicity can quickly increase their number of followers and appear to be popular, or "trending". For example, Rantic (formerly "SocialVEVO" and "Swenzy") was able to increase the number of Daily Dot's Twitter followers from 48,000 followers to 122,000 in only four days. This faux-popularity may still attract "volunteer" users. For example, a higher following can lead to more organic followers. Others perceive highly followed accounts as "trending". However, this technique may backfire if its use becomes known. According to Olivier Blanchard, unless the objective is just to appear popular, purchased ghosts do not help meet business objectives, other than possibly a form of brand marketing.

An article in the New York Times in 2014 featured an interview with an anonymous provider of ghost followers, who claimed that he had sold fake followers to celebrities and politicians. Another article in the NYT, from January 2018, discussed the economics of selling ghost followers on Twitter and other platforms.

The social media company Rantic has been identified as a provider of ghost followers, generating Instagram accounts via bots. The International Business Times reported in 2014 that Rantic was selling fake, bot generated followers and likes, in a manner violating Instagram's terms of service.

At the time, the practice of selling ghost followers was a multimillion-dollar online business.

See also

References

  1. "Social Networking Scams" N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2014. Archived April 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Hoaxsters Bought Us 75,000 Fake Followers in a New Kind of Twitter Attack." The Daily Dot. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2014.
  3. Blanchard, Olivier (February 22, 2011). Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-13-267802-5. OCLC 740435584.
  4. Marwick, Alice E. (November 28, 2014). "4". Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-20938-9.
  5. Bilton, Nick (April 20, 2014). "Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online". Bits Blog. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  6. Confessore, Nicholas (2018). "The Follower Factory". The New York Times.
  7. "Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online" The New York Times Web. 20 April 2014.
  8. "Instagram could delete up to 10 million accounts" International Business Times Web. 11 December 2014.
  9. "Fake Twitter Followers Become Multimillion-Dollar Business" New York Times Web. 05 April 2013.
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