Celebs on Twitter: Are they faking follower numbers?

While the popularity of a celebrity, business or politician can sometimes be gauged by how many followers they have on micro-blogging site Twitter, a new study by the social media marketing company shows that even some of the biggest names in the world may be faking their follower numbers, including the British PM's Twitter page.

According to Australian-based company uSocial.net, there is substantial evidence that many huge-name celebrities and organizations may have increased their follower numbers by artificial means.

"Using only publicly-available information and our own knowledge of how Twitter works, there's no doubt that many of the biggest names on Twitter are artificially-increasing their followers." Said uSocial's CEO Leon Hill.

Some of the named include Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Justin Bieber, Martha Stewart, The British PM's Twitter page (10 Downing Street) and JetBlue Airways.

In total, uSocial say that of the top 100 users on Twitter with the largest following numbers, it's extremely likely that 15 of those have artificially-inflated follower numbers, with the possibility of 10 more unconfirmed.

Whilst uSocial refused to specify exactly how the faking is achieved, it is known that there are special Twitter software programs which can automatically follow other Twitter users.

It is understood that 80% of people who are followed automatically follow back, but are then “dumped” by the celebrities, who can then show lots of followers.

Lady Gaga today shows almost 5 million followers, but only follows less than 150,000 of her fans.

President Obama’s account shows almost 5 million followers, but he is only following around 720,000.

uSocial.net was the first company in the world to sell advertising on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Source:  www.uSocial.net

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