Ghost followers#Buying followers
{{Short description|Users on social media platforms who remain inactive}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
Ghost followers, also referred to as ghosts and ghost accounts or lurkers, are users on social media platforms who remain inactive or do not engage in activity. They register on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. These users follow active members, but do not partake in liking, commenting, messaging, and posting. These accounts may be created by people or by social bots.
Ghost follower scams
Many ghost followers are accounts created by scammers who create fictional profiles and use them to target and scam others.[http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/829402 "Social Networking Scams"] N.p., n.d. Web. 11 June 2014. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402063033/http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/829402 |date=April 2, 2014 }}
Commercial services provide the ability to buy Instagram followers, most of which are ghosts. These individuals are paid to follow accounts but are not required to engage with them. This allows those seeking publicity to quickly increase their number of followers and appear to be popular, or "trending". For example, Rantic (formerly "SocialVEVO" and "Swenzy") was able to increase the number of Daily Dot's Twitter followers from 48,000 followers to 122,000 in only four days.[http://www.dailydot.com/technology/socialvevo-swenzy-fake-twitter-followers-spam-attack "Hoaxsters Bought Us 75,000 Fake Followers in a New Kind of Twitter Attack."] The Daily Dot. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2014. This faux-popularity may still attract "volunteer" users. However, this technique may backfire if its use becomes known. According to Olivier Blanchard, unless the objective is just to appear popular, purchased ghosts do not help meet business objectives,{{cite book|first=Olivier |last=Blanchard|title=Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=EwVK4G5bkBwC}}|date=22 February 2011|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-13-267802-5|oclc=740435584 }} other than possibly a form of brand marketing.{{cite book|first=Alice E. |last=Marwick|title=Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age|chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=RV3FoAEACAAJ}}|date=28 November 2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-20938-9 |chapter =4}}
An article in the New York Times in 2014 featured an interview with an anonymous provider of ghost followers, who claimed that he had sold fake followers to celebrities and politicians.{{Cite web |last=Bilton |first=Nick |date=2014-04-20 |title=Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/friends-and-influence-for-sale-online/ |access-date=2023-04-19 |website=Bits Blog |language=en}} Another article in the NYT, from January 2018, discussed the economics of selling ghost followers on Twitter and other platforms.{{cite news|last1=Confessore|first1=Nicholas|title=The Follower Factory|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html|work=The New York Times|date=2018}}
The social media company Rantic has been identified as a provider of ghost followers, generating Instagram accounts via bots.[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/friends-and-influence-for-sale-online/ "Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online"] The New York Times Web. 20 April 2014. The International Business Times reported in 2014 that Rantic was selling fake, bot generated followers and likes, in a manner violating Instagram's terms of service.[http://www.ibtimes.com/instagram-could-delete-10-million-accounts-it-cracks-down-spam-1749914 "Instagram could delete up to 10 million accounts"] International Business Times Web. 11 December 2014.
At the time, the practice of selling ghost followers was a multimillion-dollar online business.[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/fake-twitter-followers-becomes-multimillion-dollar-business/?_r=0 "Fake Twitter Followers Become Multimillion-Dollar Business"] New York Times Web. 05 April 2013.