E-Paper
Real or fake: Decoding the fake followers industry
Some of the popular digital content creators and social media influencers throw light on the hot topic of buying fake followers and buying views in the online space
A number of scams have been exposed in the recent times. The latest debate to surface the internet has been about buying fake followers or viewers on social media and content hosting platforms. We spoke to BeYouNick, Ted The Stoner, BeerBiceps, Madan Gowri and Abhi and Niyu, who have been in the industry for about a decade to know more about this business and how it came into the forefront.
BeYouNick
Does the industry exist: Absolutely, just like there’s people who like to flaunt a fake Rolex, there’s also people who want to flaunt their social media ‘presence’.
How does it work: I don’t know the technicalities, but there’s basically fake profiles and bot farms that artificially create profiles and then show engagement from those profiles in form of follows, views, likes, etc.
Is it the corporate influence: I wouldn’t call it corporate interference, but rather lack of awareness of what social media really is and how it works. A lot of brands assumed that their followers, views or likes are the only relevant measures for their ‘digital personality’.
Ted The Stoner
Does the industry exist: Yes, it does exist. There is no point in sugar coating something that is so obvious to everyone’s eye.
How does it work: I haven’t really gone into the details since this is something that I never wanted to explore. This started because of three reasons — insecurity, jealousy and unfair competitive advantage.
Is it the corporate influence: There can never be one general reason over the phenomenon of buying fake followers and views, but yes, this can be one reason behind it since greater the numbers, greater the money. The math is pretty simple.
BeerBiceps
Does the industry exist: Yes, I think the practice of buying fake followers is fairly active in the industry, there are definitely people who invest in it.
How does it work: There are a lot of companies and agencies that specialise in providing fake followers or bots. They usually reach out to you on Instagram or YouTube with their packages. It’s been three to four years, at least.
Is it the corporate influence: This could be a possibility. I’ve heard a lot of brands have their agencies invest in certain kinds of bots and followers just to showcase that they are doing better in numbers as opposed to their competitors.
Madan Gowri
Does the industry exist: Yes, it does exist, but I’ve never experienced it first-hand.
How does it work: The logical explanation seems to be bots. It started when the views on a video or like on a post started determining the success of a person. Brands started taking this as a measure of reach for their brand if they collaborate.
Is it the corporate influence: Yes, it is possible that it is directly proportional to the corporate money floating around on the internet.
Abhi and Niyu
Does the industry exist: Of course, it exists. As long as we are going to care about a high number as a prestige point, it is going to exist.
How does it work: A lot of times new users are tempted to ‘buy’ followers from bot farms. Usually, these are fake accounts from different countries that get an incentive for following you.
Is it the corporate influence: The number of people following you is directly proportional to how much money you make. From our experience, your engagement rate and your connection with your audience appeal to some brands, and they are drawn to work with you based on that and not on a high number.
