Whether you like it or not, fake followers have become a part of the social media industry. Today, so many accounts are forced to suffer from the reality that not everyone following them is real. And that goes for some of the world’s biggest apps in today’s digital market.
We all have made social media an integral part of our daily routine. It’s a race to reach the top and some people are willing to do everything to get there. After all, that feeling of fame that you see some of your favorite influencers bounce around with can be enticing.
Everyone wants to have their audiences engage with them, share their experiences, and get on board with high follower counts too. But little do many of us know that there’s a price to pay and seeing isn’t always believing. Just because the number of followers is huge doesn’t mean they’re all authentic.
We thought it would be interesting to see some of the world’s popular social media apps and put things into perspective to better understand the concept of fake followers and their growing presence. Thanks to the good folks at PostBeyond who have done some research on this topic, here's what they found.
For starters, let’s begin with Instagram. More often than not, we see the app being criticized for having fake or spam accounts. Also, it’s deemed shady for offering users a simple way to purchase followers too.
The situation really got out of hand and in the end, Instagram really had to launch measures to ensure its accounts were authentic.
But when you glance over some of the biggest profiles on the app and by that we mean through their follower count, you’ll be amazed to learn that they’ve got over one billion un-authentic accounts.
And if we were to name the profile that had the biggest fake fan following, well, it’s none other than leading sports brand Nike whose 65 million accounts are fake. How’s that for a huge wake-up call?
Next up are the Kardashian family who may seem to be growing in popularity as are their number of followers on Instagram. But did you know that the sisters each have millions of fake fans that simply don’t exist? This is especially true for Kourtney and Khloe but we must give Kylie Jenner credit for being more authentic than her siblings.
Let's look at Twitter now, considering the fact that Elon Musk continually raises questions about its account authenticity. Twitter says it only has 2.1% fake accounts or bot accounts. And while the figure may appear small, well, that’s around 2 million un-authentic profiles.
The person with the most real account on the app happens to be the Indian Prime Minister who interestingly tied with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Both had just 2% fake followers while the celeb with the biggest spam account following was actually Taylor Swift. Her followers were 8% fake.
Let’s now turn our attention to TikTok. The popular short-form video format app is leading the pack in terms of being the most loved app by the newer generation. But how authentic is it really in terms of its followers?
The app has outlined from the start how it follows a rather different format in terms of taking account authenticity into consideration. They have assigned a score that’s based on the following: credibility factor, audience involved, how engaging it is, and the creator involved.
The TikTok account scored 90, proving how authentic it is. Meanwhile, top influencers who are a part of the most followed accounts like Kimberly Loaiza also ranked at 90. Other popular TikTok stars like sister duo Charli & Dixie D’Amelio scored 80.
And renowned superstar Khaby Lame scored 73 for his authenticity. So that means, the app isn’t too bad in terms of fake fan following, unlike other archrivals.
Read next: Instagram Reels Trends and Performance Insights For 2022
We all have made social media an integral part of our daily routine. It’s a race to reach the top and some people are willing to do everything to get there. After all, that feeling of fame that you see some of your favorite influencers bounce around with can be enticing.
Everyone wants to have their audiences engage with them, share their experiences, and get on board with high follower counts too. But little do many of us know that there’s a price to pay and seeing isn’t always believing. Just because the number of followers is huge doesn’t mean they’re all authentic.
We thought it would be interesting to see some of the world’s popular social media apps and put things into perspective to better understand the concept of fake followers and their growing presence. Thanks to the good folks at PostBeyond who have done some research on this topic, here's what they found.
For starters, let’s begin with Instagram. More often than not, we see the app being criticized for having fake or spam accounts. Also, it’s deemed shady for offering users a simple way to purchase followers too.
The situation really got out of hand and in the end, Instagram really had to launch measures to ensure its accounts were authentic.
But when you glance over some of the biggest profiles on the app and by that we mean through their follower count, you’ll be amazed to learn that they’ve got over one billion un-authentic accounts.
And if we were to name the profile that had the biggest fake fan following, well, it’s none other than leading sports brand Nike whose 65 million accounts are fake. How’s that for a huge wake-up call?
Next up are the Kardashian family who may seem to be growing in popularity as are their number of followers on Instagram. But did you know that the sisters each have millions of fake fans that simply don’t exist? This is especially true for Kourtney and Khloe but we must give Kylie Jenner credit for being more authentic than her siblings.
Let's look at Twitter now, considering the fact that Elon Musk continually raises questions about its account authenticity. Twitter says it only has 2.1% fake accounts or bot accounts. And while the figure may appear small, well, that’s around 2 million un-authentic profiles.
The person with the most real account on the app happens to be the Indian Prime Minister who interestingly tied with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Both had just 2% fake followers while the celeb with the biggest spam account following was actually Taylor Swift. Her followers were 8% fake.
Let’s now turn our attention to TikTok. The popular short-form video format app is leading the pack in terms of being the most loved app by the newer generation. But how authentic is it really in terms of its followers?
The app has outlined from the start how it follows a rather different format in terms of taking account authenticity into consideration. They have assigned a score that’s based on the following: credibility factor, audience involved, how engaging it is, and the creator involved.
The TikTok account scored 90, proving how authentic it is. Meanwhile, top influencers who are a part of the most followed accounts like Kimberly Loaiza also ranked at 90. Other popular TikTok stars like sister duo Charli & Dixie D’Amelio scored 80.
And renowned superstar Khaby Lame scored 73 for his authenticity. So that means, the app isn’t too bad in terms of fake fan following, unlike other archrivals.
Read next: Instagram Reels Trends and Performance Insights For 2022
