Ghost followers, also referred to as ghosts and ghost accounts or lurkers, are users on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

platforms who remain inactive or do not engage in activity. They register on platforms such as

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. These users follow active members, but do not partake in liking, commenting,

messaging A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...

, and posting. These accounts may be created by people or by

social bot A social bot, also described as a social AI or social algorithm, is a software agent that communicates autonomously on social media. The messages (e.g. tweets) it distributes can be simple and operate in groups and various configurations with ...

Ghost follower scams

Many ghost followers are accounts created by scammers who create fictional profiles and use them to target and scam others. Commercial services provide the ability to buy Instagram followers, most of which are ghosts. These individuals are paid to follow accounts but are not required to engage with them. This allows those seeking

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization. It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) via the media. The sub ...

to quickly increase their number of followers and appear to be popular, or " trending". For example,

Rantic Rantic.com (formerly ''SocialVEVO'' and ''Swenzy'') is a social media marketing website that sells fake likes, followers, views and web traffic. Background Rantic.com was registered in 2014 by a group of internet marketers. The group also has u ...

(formerly "SocialVEVO" and "Swenzy") was able to increase the number of Daily Dot's Twitter followers from 48,000 followers to 122,000 in only four days. This faux-popularity may still attract "volunteer" users. However, this technique may backfire if its use becomes known. According to

Olivier Blanchard Olivier Jean Blanchard (; born December 27, 1948) is a French economist and professor. He is Robert M. Solow Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics, an ...

, unless the objective is just to appear popular, purchased ghosts do not help meet business objectives, other than possibly a form of brand marketing. An article in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 2014 featured an interview with an anonymous provider of ghost followers, who claimed that he had sold fake followers to celebrities and politicians. Another article in the ''NYT'', from January 2018, discussed the economics of selling ghost followers on

and other platforms. The social media company

has been identified as a provider of ghost followers, generating Instagram accounts via

bot Bot or BOT may refer to: Sciences Computing and technology * Chatbot, a computer program that converses in natural language * Internet bot, a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet **Spambot, an internet bot ...

s. The ''International Business Times'' reported in 2014 that Rantic was selling fake, bot generated followers and likes, in a manner violating Instagram's terms of service. At the time, the practice of selling ghost followers was a multimillion-dollar online business."Fake Twitter Followers Become Multimillion-Dollar Business"
New York Times Web. 05 April 2013.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Confidence tricks Internet manipulation and propaganda Social media accounts

Ghost follower scams

See also

References