There I was, dawdling on Twitter around midday today, when I came across this tweet:
When I saw the number of likes that this account garnered –
– I thought to myself:
“Oh wow! She must be in the @BarackObama league, this one. I wonder how big her account is?”
On checking associated Twitter profile out, this is what I found:
Looking at the numbers on @dnamestay1‘s account above, my curiosity got piqued.
Here is a simple analysis:
Essentially, this account with 442 followers, has been around for 13 months, has been publishing 73 tweets per day on average, and got over 131 000 likes for one of the tweets published on the 12th of August 2021?
Is there something fishy here?
I decided to scratch the surface further, by running a search on Google using the phrase ” how to buy Twitter Likes“.
Here are the results:
As the Google search results above show, the business of selling Twitter Likes is booming, as judged by Google ads by the associated platforms where the Tweeters can buy the likes.
I like the second last Google ad, which claims to sell “real” likes, and goes on to say they are Legit Favorites.
What if TAYLOR2.0 is buying fake Twitter likes to give a false impression that “her” account is popular?
Some 8 hours later, I checked the tweet that is the subject of this eNsight again, out of curiosity.
As the tweet above shows, the number of likes have gone up by more than 18 000 since the last the last time, and they [the likes] are still ticking up as I am about to publish this eNsight..
Most website visitors aren’t human. They’re bots. Today, bots make up 52% of all web traffic. And these automated accounts have had serious, real world impact — from the 2016 election, to the FCC’s recent, controversial net neutrality vote.
Has the number of followers changed in the same 8-hour duration?
See for yourself.
TAYLOR2.0 has since gained 14 followers.
Is there perhaps a relationship between the number of Twitter likes that so far look like they are fake and the number of gained followers?
Finally, here are the results of an assessment of @dnamestay1’s account on Followerwonk, with specific focus on the Social Authority score – a measure of the influence of an Twitter account, on a 1 (least influential) to 100 (most influential) scale.
With “her” current Social Authority of 47 (out of 100) , it is a clear that TAYLOR2.0 does not command the type of Twitter influence that is implied by the number of likes associated with the tweet that is the subject of this eNsight.
There is no doubt that these are fake Twitter likes.
How many aspiring Twitter influencers are buying fake Twitter likes to prop up their profiles?
Your guess is as good as mine.
But given how profitable this influencer business has become though – where people become famous for being famous, we may be surprised that the practice of buying fake Twitter likes is widespread.
As I conclude, Nick Bilton’s Fake Famous – a social experiment documentary on a similar topic – is worth watching.
Lesson for you?
Not everything that glitters is gold on social media.
