According to a new report, around 50 per cent of Justin Bieber’s Twitter followers are fake accounts, equating to around 19 million of his apparent fans.
The report from Socialbakers looks into social media profiles on Twitter and has discovered that only 17.8 million out of Bieber’s 37.3 million Twitter followers are genuine accounts.
Bieber recently became the celebrity boasting the largest amount of Twitter followers, overtaking previous record-holder Lady Gaga earlier this year.
The 19-year-old pop singer and his horde of “Beliebers” could face being demoted to second place once more, as Lady Gaga has 19 million genuine followers or “Little Monsters” on the social media site.
Fake and inactive accounts are deciphered by the amount of followers they have, the number of accounts they follow and the content and volume of tweets made. Any account with one or no followers and a follow count less than 50 tends to be judged as a bogus account, as does one with no tweets posted whatsoever.
Phrases like “diet”, “work from home”, “make money” are also analysed as they tend to be associated with spam posted by fake and hacked accounts.
In contrast, Rihanna, Barack Obama and Britney Spears are among those celebrities and public figures to have more genuine followers than fake accounts.
The young pop star has had an increasingly bad rapport with his fans in recent months, especially when he turned up two hours late for one of his London concerts at the O2 Arena. He has also been caught engaging in diva-like public rows with members of the paparazzi.
Having also posted online tirades against his critics, including using Twitter, after leaving the country Bieber vowed never to return to the UK.
Via: BBC Newsbeat
