Fake user accounts are infecting social media like Facebook and Twitter causing the social media giants to admit that the problem is far worse than previously acknowledged. In November 2017, Facebook disclosed to shareholders that it had at least twice as many fake users as it previously estimated, perhaps 60 million or more automated accounts. According to a new study by the University of Southern California and Indiana University 15 percent of more (50 million) of Twitter accounts are bots rather than real live people. When you buy digital display advertising on Social Media, you are paying for these fake users.
These fake accounts resemble real people. In fact, many of these fake accounts have hijacked a real person’s picture, name and social image but then go on to promote shady websites with graphic pornography and hate speech. These fake accounts are committing identity theft on a massive scale. Senator Mark Warner from Virginia says “The continued viability of fraudulent accounts and interactions on social media platforms – and the professionalization of these fraudulent services – is an indication that there is still much work to do.”
Senator Warner is talking about companies like Devumi that has made millions of dollars in the shadowy global marketplace for social media fraud. Devumi sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses and anyone who wants to appear to be more popular or to exert influence online. A New York Times investigation has found that Devumi uses a group of 3.5 million automated accounts they sell over and over, up to 200 million times.
Fake accounts are like counterfeit money in the online digital marketplace that prices digital advertising costs on the size of an audience – or the illusion of a large audience. You pay more for a larger audience than for a smaller audience so their is a fraudulent profit motive behind fake users.
Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms prohibit buying fake users to inflate the popularity of user accounts but companies like Devumi continue to sell fake users with impunity.
Fake user companies use their army of bots to drive up views on sites where you, the advertiser pay to display your ad. You buy that ad, and you pay for that ad based on how many people will see your ad. If you buy display advertising directly a site or from a digital display network, you could be paying for a fake audience and a fake audience doesn’t buy your product or service you’re trying to advertise.
High follower counts are important for so-called influencers, the growing market of YouTube stars where advertisers spend billions of dollars a year on sponsorship deals. The more people these YouTube stars reach, the more money they make. According to data collected by Captiv8, a company that connects influencers to brands, an influencer with 100,000 followers might earn an average of $2,000 for a promotional tweet, while an influencer with a million followers might earn $20,000.
The New York Times investigation revealed that many of Devumi’s best customers who buy followers are selling products and services on social media. Kathy Ireland, the onetime swimsuit model has a half-billion-dollar licensing empire and she has hundreds of thousands of fake Devumi followers. Ms. Ireland has over a million followers on Twitter, which she often uses to promote companies with whom she has endorsement deals. American Family Insurance, said that the former model was one of its most influential Twitter “brand ambassadors.”
In January 2017, Ms. Ireland had only about 160,000 followers. The next month, an employee at the branding agency she owns, Sterling/Winters, spent about $2,000 for 300,000 more followers, according to Devumi records. The employee later made more purchases, he acknowledged in an interview. Much of Ms. Ireland’s Twitter following appears to consist of bots.
Several Devumi customers acknowledged that they bought bots because their careers had come to depend, in part, on the appearance of social media influence. “No one will take you seriously if you don’t have a noteworthy presence,” said Jason Schenker, an economist who has purchased at least 260,000 followers.
The lure of accountability in digital display advertising comes with a massive buyer beware warning. In addition to the sophisticated non-human technology that simulates human interaction with your display advertising, there is a human fraud component to watch out for. Work from home schemes promising people that they can make money on the internet are simply recruiting real people to sit at home and mindlessly click on website ads and fill in forms just to drive up the cost of digital advertising.
Buyer beware when buying digital ads. There isn’t enough time in this post to cover invisible ads, domain spoofing, site bundling and ad injection.
If you want to bring your advertising under control and demand some accountability, call up your local Radio station and ask for a local salesperson to come show you how effective, affordable and accountable Radio advertising on your local Radio station can be. You deal with someone from your community. They can provide you with a list of times when your commercial will be on the air and you can check it out for yourself.
According to the Nielsen Company, AM & FM Radio now has over 249 million listeners in the United States. That number is the highest it has ever been in the history of Radio. AM & FM Radio is growing in audience size. AM & FM Radio can provide your business with more reach and more frequency for less money than any other major medium.
