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shared by Rebeka Aščerič on 05 Mar 13 - No Cached

IF YOU think money can't buy you friends, think again. In the online world, it’s possible to purchase a crowd of fans.
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To decide whether a follower is human, Mr Camisani Calzolari used various criteria, including the number of posts from a fan’s Twitter account and the use of correct punctuation in tweets. According to this research, by June 2011 nearly half of Twitter followers of computer maker Dell—about 700,000—were bots.
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On close inspection, a significant proportion of Mr Romney’s followers appeared to be fake profiles.
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There is no indication that any of the companies mentioned in Mr Camisani Calzolari’s paper have bought followers—rogue bots often attach themselves to people and brands without payment. But some firms do buy a social media following.
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For now, the trick works. “Normal people don't know yet that there is this black market. Most have total trust that a brand's followers are real,” says Mr Camisani Calzolari.
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