Introduction:
In the day and age of highly followed influencers and the popularity that comes with it, there are also some risks and threats that come along with it. The threat of fake follower bots is a rising concern on the social media accounts of celebrities and influential people. This threat is not limited to celebrities, though, you might see your own account being followed by these fake follower bots.
What are fake follower bots?
Fake follower bots are social media accounts run by robots instead of humans. They are created to do the repetitive task of increasing the followers of an influential social media account in a short time, otherwise humanly difficult. When a social media account is open for the public to interact with, we can see that fake bots are already following it, and the accounts with privacy settings will have the bots send a follow request.
These bots are created to make them look like human accounts where they have a profile picture and some information in the bio. It’s pretty common to have bots following your social media account unknowingly.
Research on fake follower bots found that some influencers and celebrities pay for these bots to follow them and make their account following look impressive and attractive to the brand sponsorships. Many celebrity social media accounts have high fake followers. For instance, the percentage of fake followers of rapper Lil Durk has gone as high as 56% of the total followers, and some top actors and athletes aren’t too behind either.
What impact do fake follower bots have on the public?
Let’s look at a few ways in which the prevalence of fake follower bots on celebrity social media accounts has a concerning impact on the public.
- Change in public opinion: One of the most important impacts fake bots can have is the spreading of misinformation amongst the public. Celebrities have a great deal of influence over their fans. In any big political event like elections, they are often approached by the candidates for promotion. Fake followers from the celebrity account are utilized to spread misinformation against the stance of the celebrity, which could confuse the public.
- Loss of reputation: When brand sponsorships approach a social media account to promote their product and the engagement result on the account is low or poor, then it can have a damaging effect on the reputation, eventually resulting in loss of further opportunities.
- Privacy and data violations: Fake follower bots can ask for access to the social media account, which could make the data and personal information vulnerable to potential violations.
- Loss of opportunities: An account with genuine followers and impressive engagement metrics can lead to more opportunities for brand sponsorships. Contrary to that, an account with fake followers can prevent you from getting these opportunities.
How to identify bots on social media?
There are some significant ways to find out if the followers are fake.
- Inactive Accounts: Accounts with incomplete information, like no profile picture or stolen picture, and generic usernames, can be fake followers. The account's inactivity can be a telltale sign to spot a fake follower.
- Irrelevant activity: Fake accounts can make irrelevant or unrelated comments on your post. Look out for comments which make no sense in relation to the post.
- A sudden increase in followers: If the number of followers of an account increase in a short amount of time, then it can be a sign that the account may have bought the followers.
- Use of social media tools: Based on the activity patterns of a follower, some tools can help you determine and analyze if the follower is fake.
Conclusion:
The rising concern of fake followers today, where most people have an online presence, is an issue. The integrity of social media faces a stern challenge from the multiplication of fake followers. The credibility of brands and highly followed individuals can be compromised, leading to doubts about the authenticity of engagement metrics with the target audience. Hence, the need for genuine users to combat and take measures to make their and others’ online presence safe is of immense importance.
Moreover, the host online platforms should research and develop effective ways and tools to detect and remove fake followers to make the online presence of their user base safer.
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