Buying followers, or the zero value of looking successful

The rise of social networks brought a lot of frustration to newcomers: gaining followers is a slow process, usually tied to the worth of what you publish. But digital opportunists found a new way to trade on ego: selling followers to anyone who needs them to look more important than they are.

Like drops of water, followers add up over time. They follow other users, brands, avatars or hilarious fakes. That is what they are, and what we are: followers. Moved by the interest a piece of content stirs up, by a name, by fame or simply by friendship, users decide at some point to follow other people.

And it is in that process that the other side watches their account gain more and more followers, which gives the followed a certain social relevance in the digital sphere. A critical mass is needed for the logic of merely listening to become an interactive experience: publishing and republishing, but also being answered and republished.

This maxim, generally misunderstood, ends up putting the number per se ahead of quality. And quality has to do with how people interact with our messages. Building a relevant audience is not simple and takes time. So, suffocated by the need to look the part, many people, and even more companies and brands, hire the services of those who deliver in a few days what takes months or years.

Yes, you can buy followers. For a couple of dollars, a rain of unknown avatars inflates the ego of any account. They pile up by the thousands, but... what for?

Bought followers are not people. They are a mass that does not listen, does not publish and, worst of all, does not interact. Let us be clear: the real value of a follower lies in the possibility of interaction. It is through interaction, and through the value the content provides, that the relationship makes sense.

The underground economy

In the study "The underground economy of Twitter: a thriving business", the Barracuda Labs team made surprising findings after months of research:

The average price to buy 1,000 followers is 18 dollars.
There are 20 sellers on eBay and 58 websites (among the top 100 results for "buy Twitter followers" on Google) where you can buy fake followers.
53% of the users who bought followers have between 4,000 and 26,000 followers.
A fake account follows 1,799 accounts on average.

But one figure stands out: a seller of these services can earn up to 800 dollars a day. Those who profit from other people's fantasies exploit the craving for symbolic popularity to make, with shady ventures like these, close to 10,000 dollars a month.

Politicians, celebrities and brands

All of them have used this tactic repeatedly. Mitt Romney's is the most talked-about case. And here is one closer to home, detected thanks to StatusPeople: the account of Hugo Chávez shows 44% fake users and only 14% active users. Sadly, he is not the only one on the list.