Brands and public figures have false fans

Former US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Louis Vuitton (French fashion brand) and singer "Diddy", these celebrities and brands have the same place? According to a Social media watch group, it is common for them to pay for Twitter followers.

According to the relevant data, a new survey shows that many well-known big companies, politicians and celebrities, may buy countless false fans.

Italian researchers Andrea Stroppa and Carlo De Micheli have been tracking unusual changes in the number of Twitter account fans. Pepsi, for example, added 71,686 fans a day in November 2011. A spokesman for the company explained that this is related to activating account incentives, and the company will build brands by promoting certain Twitter messages. For example, the music star "Diddy", the day of June last year, his fans jumped 185,000, which is usually increased by 30 times times. One day last month, his fans dropped by 394,000.

You may be wondering: Why would anyone do that?

"For some people, buying zombie powder is just about satisfying yourself," The New York Times said. "But for celebrities and brands, Twitter or Facebook fans help improve their visibility." If fans constantly click on a brand landing page, it will also make the brand in Google search results in front. ”

Ottmitt Group, a company that provides investigative and advisory work on new technology, believes that buying fans is a way to generate influence. But people with marketing expertise know that quantity does not necessarily amount to quality ——— especially when fans are zombie powders.

"Many brands strive to pursue the highest value of social media," Susan Aitlinge, analyst at Ottmitt Group, told the New York Times, "so they are eager to show this momentum through different channels, one of which is to show that their brands have more viewers than in the past." ”

So, how do you buy a fan? If you really want to buy, you can go to fiverr such sites, they provide services to buy zombie powder. With just 5 dollars, you can buy more than 200 Facebook "favorites" or 10,500 Twitter followers.

"Zombie powder" can be sold to multiple buyers. In fact, buyers also like to follow other people's "zombie powder" because it looks more authentic. Attempts to separate the "zombie powder" network tool usually distinguish "zombie powder" by the account's resting state or by the proportion of "being followed and followed". The more users the zombie powder follows, the more active they are, the more realistic they look.

Twitter has been trying to crack down on zombie powder. Last year, Twitter sued 5 developers of Twitter junk information tools. But the spokesman said it was difficult to distinguish "zombie powder" from a real account.

Now on Twitter, information travels fast and credibility remains valuable. Buyers should be careful.