Summary

The article discusses the prevalence of social media fraud (SMF) through botnets, which artificially inflates follower counts, and emphasizes the importance of organic growth and engagement with real subscribers.

Abstract

The author reflects on their experience with social media marketing over a decade, highlighting the challenges of organically growing a follower base. The article delves into the use of social bot networks, part of Social Media Fraud (SMF), which can quickly and cheaply boost follower numbers, creating a false sense of popularity and trust. With the rise of online social networks (OSNs) as key platforms for personal branding, the temptation to manipulate followership has grown, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author argues that true engagement comes from organic subscribers rather than zombie bot followers, suggesting that content creators should focus on building a loyal audience. The piece concludes with the author's golden rules for digital creators, emphasizing self-belief, learning from experiences, and setting achievable goals.

Opinions

The author believes that relying on SMF services for follower growth is a form of deception that undermines trust in OSNs.
They express skepticism about the authenticity of top social media influencers' followership data, suggesting it may be distorted by botnets.
The author has a negative view of botnets, referring to them as "ghosts in the machine" and comparing the process of removing fake followers to a "scorched earth policy."
There is a clear preference for organic growth, with the author advocating for a focus on subscribers over followers for genuine engagement.
The author values self-reliance and personal growth, advising creators to set their own standards for success rather than comparing themselves to others.
They encourage immediate action for unlocking one's full potential through consistent, organic engagement with an audience.

Why Your Followers Are Turning Into Zombie Bots

Question everything you hear and trust only a fraction of what you read from social media’s top influencers

The AI Zombie Horde | Image by Rui Alves on the Leonardo App

A decade ago, I took a more professional approach to social media, hoping to increase the reach of my blog and several webzines, using X (Twitter) and Facebook.

Back then, social media was becoming a thing in digital marketing.

So with a couple of go-to platforms, I managed to grow my following to five figures.

Yet, let’s face it — growing your fan base organically has always been a bit of a grind.

But you know what, there are several ways to game the system.

X marks the spot of the social bot network

So, it took me nearly a decade to organically gain 15,000 followers on X for one of my webzines.

For less than $100, I could have reached the same number instantly via SMF services.

SMF services rely on several strategies to gain control of the accounts they used to increase their clients’ follower count artificially.

The cheapest way to use these fake accounts for SMF is through so-called botnets: “groups of compromised computer systems that are remotely controlled by a third party, a botmaster.” ¹

Well, back in the day, I was working pro bono and could not afford a paid option based on social bots: “a strategy that is part of Social Media Fraud (SMF).”

SMF is the process of creating likes, follows, views or any other online actions on OSN like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to artificially increase an account’s fan base. This method falsifies social media data and creates disinformation that could lead to a decrease in users’ trust in OSN.¹

The above research provides a better understanding of how top players on major social media platforms can easily distort their followership data via social network manipulation through botnets.

You have to fake it till you make it, right?

Botnets: The ghosts in the machine

Online social networks (OSNs) are now the cornerstone of personal branding campaigns and key hubs for content disruptors.

These platforms offer the opportunity to reach a large audience and allow anyone with the right skills (or funds) to become famous.

I recently found an insightful article titled: “Social Network Manipulation by an IoT Botnet.”¹

The authors explain how creators would build their followership simply by posting engaging content online in the past.

They go on to explain how, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing opened up the online floodgates, and social networks saw a massive surge in business development strategies and freelance opportunities.

Likewise, social media fraud increased exponentially as the online market was flooded with a tsunami of new entrepreneurs and influencers struggling to get their share of the audience and turn it into revenue.

Mind my words.

Your favorite creators and influencers are masters of deception and AI is their Philosopher’s Stone.

The authors of the study¹ I quoted earlier explain how social media fraud can quickly (and at a relatively low cost) create the illusion of popularity.

Nearly every social network has its own built-in (paid-for) marketing development function(s). The most common is promoting a post (for a fee) or running a (paid) advertising campaign.

However, the official features are just the tip of the iceberg, as there are countless ways to grow your audience or popularity by simply buying likes, followers, and views.¹

Creating the illusion of popularity gives them leverage and some credibility that, when used properly, helps increase organic followers.

The AI Zombie Apocalypse

I recently noticed that my X account, boasting several thousand followers, had been overrun by fake accounts and bots.

I was not going to sit idly by, so I implemented what I like to call a scorched earth policy and nuked it.

Now, I have a new X account meticulously to ensure that my following remains as organic as possible.

My takeaway from this mess is quite simple.

If you don't want AI-powered algorithms to send your best content to a zombie horde of brainless bots, then you’ll have to hammer your way through the horde with a digital crowbar.

It’s time to forget about followers and focus on subscribers.

Your subscribers are the ones most likely to represent a loyal and engaged organic audience.

Closing thoughts

In my over twenty years of experience as a digital creator, I have a couple of golden rules I’ve carved in stone.

Those who believe in themselves inspire others to believe in them. Therefore, you should never measure your achievements by the standards of others.

Learn from your mistakes and successes and set doable goals to achieve an exponential growth curve at every step, and you will achieve great things. Start today and unlock your full potential.

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References:

Paquet-Clouston, Masarah; Bilodeau, Olivier; Décary-Hétu, David: Can We Trust Social Media Data? Social Network Manipulation by an IoT Botnet, ACM Digital Library — Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Social Media & Society, July 2017, Article No.: 15 Pages 1–9 https://doi.org/10.1145/3097286.3097301
Stringhini, G., Egele, M., Kruegel, C. and Vigna, G. 2012. Poultry markets: on the underground economy of Twitter followers. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Workshop on Online Social Networks. ACM, Helsinki, Finland, 1–6
Boshmaf, Y., Muslukhov, I., Beznosov, K., and Ripeanu, M. 2011. The socialbot network: when bots socialize for fame and money. In Proceedings of the 27th annual computer security applications conference, ACM, Florida, USA, 93–102.