Bots and fake accounts have taken over our social media platforms!
What are robots? Lutz Finger from Forbes defines bots as ‘Bots are algorithms that operate on social media networks. But to the outside world, they look like a real user. They can come in all shapes and sizes, and they are borderline perfect. Some of them are very simple. And there are many services that will provide you bots, from bots that will like everything you post and fake followers to much more.’ Twitter estimates that 5% of active accounts on their platform are fake.
Bots can be purchased or produced through software and have many applications, including marketing, creating awareness, generating fame/infamy, influencing public opinion, and spamming. Some examples of how these crafty collections of codes are affecting social media include the battle between T-Series and PewDiePie on YouTube, the group ‘Threatin’, the restaurant ‘The Shed at Dulwich’ and the 2016 US election.
The sub-gap battle between PewDiePie and Series T was to see if Series T would overtake PewDiePie as the YouTube channel with the most subscribers. If you would like more information about this, please click here. Supporters of both channels were using bots and fake accounts to increase the sub count with YouTube periodically clearing these fake accounts causing the sub to swing back and forth. Eventually, unfortunately, our King of YouTube fell and the T Series took the throne.
Another example of how bots and fake accounts are infecting social media is the example of ‘Threatin’. If you would like to read an article about this from the Guardian, please click here. Threatin is a band that faked their show history and social media following to book big gigs in the UK. The group was discovered after only a handful of people showed up at these large venues. It appeared that the group had acquired a following on social media and that most of the fans were actually fake social media accounts. Eventually, the social media pages were shut down or taken down and some members from the group left.
The last example concerns the weaponization of bots and fake accounts. If you would like to read more about this, please click here. It is about the 2016 elections in the USA. There was Russian interference through fake accounts in the US election on both sides in order to generate more tension between the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. These fake accounts would start debates on Twitter, host two polarizing rallies across the street from each other, and other things that would antagonize both sides.
So are there any marketing bots and fake accounts? Yes, bots can be used to spam users similar to emails or phone calls. An example of this that happened to me recently was finding a follower or like on Soundcloud that ended up with a profile image advertising 1000 followers for a certain price. This can also be replaced with other advertisements; however, this approach would be highly unethical. This approach also becomes the clutter that marketing wants to cut.
So what do you guys think? Are fake accounts really annoying or can they be avoided? Think you can tell the difference between a real account and a fake one, or are you one of the 30% of Twitter users who can’t? Please let me know in the comments section below.
If you enjoyed this article, please like, subscribe and share with your friends. If you’d like, please leave a comment or question in the comments section so we can continue the conversation below. There are also links provided below if you would like to find more information on this topic.
Relationships:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/pewdiepie-vs-t-series-crackdown-on-fake-accounts-
help-youtuber-maintain-lead/story-YjvEsBKiYEl7TokViA0duN.html
https://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2013/08/bot-wars-why-you-can-never-buy-concert-tickets-online
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/12/threatin-band-fake-fanbase-tour
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/06/how-many-social-media-users-are-real-people/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2015/02/17/do-evil-the-business-of-social-media-bots/#10b05b18fb58
