Artificially Inflating Twitter Follower Counts

August 17th, 2009 • Measurement, Social Networks

According to Mashable, Twitter has moved to shut down marketers promoting ways to artificially inflate Twitter follower counts.

According a press release issued by uSocial, who markets products like a “$1,000 Twitter followers for $87” package, “Twitter has recently moved to [shut us down], by claiming [we're] ’spamming.’” uSocial takes issue with this claim, saying, “the definition of spam is using electronic messaging to send unsolicited communication and as we don’t use Twitter for this, the claims are false.”

Last week, Mashable received press release from uSocial that not only claimed that the company “sold” Twitter followers, it also highlighted the fact that they ignored a “Cease and Desist” order from social news site Digg for selling votes. Twitter moved swiftly to prevent this company from unethically inflating followers.

While it’s good to know that Twitter is cracking down on shady marketing companies, this also opens up another issue: How far will marketers go to inflate their metrics within the social media space? While those of us who work within social media channels understand that measurement/metrics differ from advertising (e.g., the quality of interactions, engaging with key influencers, sustained conversations over time), many traditional marketers adhere to the antiquated notion that “more is more” when it comes to the number of users. It’s not the number of followers/friends/fans; it’s the meaningful relationships built over time. Social media is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.

The challenge is to educate traditional marketers to inform them that it’s not quantity that’s important within social media; it’s the quality — that is, communicating with audiences in an authentic, relevant and engaging way over time.

Tags: Digg, Mashable, social media marketing, twitter

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