
Why don't we start calling paying for fake followers what it really is - afrophysics1
fraud.
======
anonyx69
Plausible deniability. Fake followers aren't marketed as fake, they're just
marketed as followers.

------
throwaway2016a
I have to wonder how many developers do this too. Or if they don't, use follow
bots or some other method to get people to follow them.

I've seen a lot of developers post almost nothing in terms of quality content
yet somehow have thousands of followers.

Meanwhile I try to post quality content and only have 600 followers. I have
considered buying at some point but decided that I'd rather have fewer real
followers than thousands of fake ones. And I've written books and spoken at
dozens of conferences...

I can definitely see the argument that if I bought followers and a conference
organizer or publisher used that as a metric by which to consider booking me
it could be considered fraud.

~~~
threatofrain
I've started to suspect some Github projects are like that, but I wouldn't
want to be wrong in calling a project out.

------
aje403
I have dated 2 fashion models. One was signed. They purchased Instagram
followers. I didn't know what that even meant before either of them (and still
don't really care). They did it ( and realistically, it's just part of that
world) to remain competitive in an extremely tough industry they were wrapped
up in. While I'm still not with either and things didn't work out and the
whole thing is a little ridiculous, I would not consider either of them to be
engaging in criminally fraudulent behavior.

------
mykoleary
Any company that looks solely at followers and not at overall and long term
engagement (comments and likes) trends with a user's follower base deserves
what they get from the person that "sold" them the bill of goods they bought.

~~~
dragonwriter
You can buy comments and likes just as easily as followers. Once something
manipulable becomes used as a measurable proxy for influence, it will be
manipulated.

~~~
mykoleary
If that's a concern for companies, they can bake measurable minimums
(referrals, converted referrals, etc) into their endorsement deals. Any person
with a bevy of fake-ness won't meet them and thus won't get paid.

------
westondeboer
Are internet points worth something in real life?

~~~
revicon
They are if a brand is paying you to endorse their products.

------
hprotagonist
in the good old slashdot days, "astroturfing" was still a well-known verb.

------
z_
The Internet is serious business.

------
dmschulman
Fraud would imply malice and criminal intent. What is criminal about paying
for fake followers?

~~~
DannyBee
No, it wouldn't. There is civil fraud too.

Here's the basic black's law dictionary definition:

An intentional misrepresentation of material existing fact made by one person
to another with knowledge of its falsity and for the purpose of inducing the
other person to act, and upon which the other person relies with resulting
injury or damage.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
Why would someone's number of followers be a "material fact"?

I mean, it might make me decide to listen to them a time or two. It won't for
long, though - they need to say something worth hearing for that.

(Disclaimer: The previous paragraph is hypothetical. I don't do social media
at all, so I don't follow anyone...)

~~~
dragonwriter
> Why would someone's number of followers be a "material fact"?

People buying followers are often competing for commercial opportunities for
which social media influence is a key factor in what they are selling to the
prospective buyer.

