Who Has the Most Fake Twitter Followers?

Ghost Followers

Ghost Followers

If you pay attention to numbers, then you might be interested in knowing about those with the most followers on Twitter. The top three at the moment are @justinbieber, @ladygaga, and @katyperry. Justin Bieber tops the charts with 39,548,681 followers, Lady Gaga has about 37,000,000 followers, and Katy Perry trails with 35,000,000. So if you’re a newbie on Twitter, you might be thinking that even getting 100 followers could be a massive understaking.

Note: before I go any farther, I’m not singling these celebrities out. Buying followers has become common practice, but it’s good to be informed.

A Long, Long Road

Let’s see…who do I know on Twitter, you’re thinking to yourself…uhh…your cousin, maybe? Oh, and your friend from the gym and those people you met in that networking group that one time (that’s 6 right there!). So getting to 40 million–how is that even possible?

Invisible Friends

Does Justin Bieber Have Invisible Friends?

Does Justin Bieber Have Invisible Friends?

Would you feel better if you realized that many large accounts have invisible friends? That’s right, and they had to buy them, too! It’s not like when you were a kid and you had friends who talked to you who then disappeared back into the wallpaper. These are fake accounts bought and paid for by these Twitter “superstars.”

It’s Not Really a Lie

If all three of these big celebrities are not telling the truth about their followers, what else might they be exaggerating? When Justin Bieber asks if you want to be his boyfriend cause he’ll “take you places you ain’t never been before,” should you belieb him or would you end up eating cold burritos on the side of the road? And did Katy Perry really kiss a girl or did they just shake hands? When asked about her fake followers, Lady Gaga just kept a poker face. Don’t worry: I’ll stop soon.

Ways to Check Follower Counts

Sites like Gizmodo, Status Bakers, and Status People’s Fake Follower Check have pointed out that for these celebrities and many others, somewhere from 47-50% of followers are fake.

Recently there have been a few articles on sites like Mashable about people buying fake followers. In fact, recently I’ve noticed many more accounts following me who offer followers for sale. Many accounts who offer fake followers do not have many followers themselves. They don’t care much about speling or “punkshuation,” either! You can check fake followers by using Fake Follower Check. Just login using your Twitter account if you want to know whether your favorite celebrity has fake followers.

Feeling Insecure?

If you’re having self-esteem issues because you don’t yet have 40 million or even one million followers, just remember: it’s not how many followers you have, it’s how you use them. And if you truly want to connect, then follow me. I won’t pay you, but I love you anyway.

Comments

  1. juli moody says

    Great article !! I was wondering about all these huge # ##

    • Hi Juli!
      Yes, buying followers has become fairly common, but those followers won’t get them any interaction, and often the numbers rapidly decline after they are “bought.” It’s becoming a big business! And silly in my opinion. Thanks for commenting!
      Carol

  2. Bobo Bigtop says

    This is a great article. It reminds me of my time in the circus.

  3. How many people has the bieb left on the side of the road with a burrito? You are cracking me up.

  4. Buying followers will always be a business. Yes, accounts die, that’s the reality of it.

  5. GREAT ARTICLE
    I JUST RECENTLY WROTE AND PUBLISHED MY TRUE STORY. . I FIND IT HORRIBLY ROTTEN BUYING FAKE FOLLOWERS ..I Would much rather have people following me be cause they want to..are interested in following what I have to say as I am interested in others as well.
    THANK YOU
    ITS NICE TO SEE OTHERS FEELING THE SAME
    KERRI KRYSKO

    • Hello Kerri,
      Fake followers don’t do anything for a person’s engagement, and in fact can hurt more than help. Thank you for coming by and commenting. I appreciate it!
      Sincerely,
      Carol

  6. Hi Carol ,
    Great Article , I am glad u listed the fake followers tool , I used it today , I was shocked at the fake / inactive followers that public persons brands , celebrities have . I do believe the most important part of social media is ” real ” engagement !

    It is pretty amazing how many people want to be important, without any real content , one definitely needs to find their niche!

    • Hello Natalie,
      Fake Followers is one of those concepts that you can’t “unsee.” Once you realize how ingrained it is, you’ll never trust the numbers ever again. None of us ought to be very impressed by numbers, since they’re so easy to fake.
      Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
      Sincerely,
      Carol

  7. Lili Balfour says

    @startuppro FTW
    close to 1 million in (mostly) fake followers

  8. friends or follow twitter says

    Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in
    your content seem to be running off the screen in Safari.
    I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do
    with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know.
    The style and design look great though! Hope you get
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  9. Thanks for posting this Carol. I’ve had a few of those “follow me and get 1000 followers” accounts follow me lately. It’s a waste of Twitter space in my opinion.

    • Hi Patricia,

      People are always looking for shortcuts. What they don’t know is that having fake followers can hurt an account in more ways than one. For instance, all those fakes can throw off the analytics, such as knowing when your followers are online so you can know when to post!

      I tend to ignore the accounts selling fake followers. Some people block them.
      Thanks for stopping by, Patricia. I appreciate that!
      Carol Stephen

      • I hadn’t thought about the analytics angle of it. Good point.

        • Hi Patricia,
          I hadn’t thought about it, either, until one of my clients bought followers. Yikes! I couldn’t tell when their REAL followers were online, since they were all lumped together. I couldn’t tell when the best time to post would be for the REAL followers. And no, they didn’t ask first–they went ahead and purchased the followers, thinking it was a good deal.
          Sigh.
          Thanks for your comments! I appreciate that very much.
          Carol

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