Dan Andrews reporting…
A while back I wrote an article about the shady world of buying Twitter followers. To read it click here
At the time, I wrote how I had purchased over a 100,000 followers on Twitter that are fake. My total at one point was as high as 130,000 followers. Well, when I checked my Twitter account today it was down to 60,000 followers and plummeting! More proof that you get what you pay for. I bought fake followers that really didn’t exist and now more than 50% of the accounts really don’t exist.
As I noted at the time, new innovations in detecting fake followers have revolutionized industries where social media involvement is critical. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the current music scene. Recently, I discovered an artist with over a 250,000 followers. At first blush, I was impressed. After running a check on the Twitter followers I noticed that 97% were fake! But not all hope is lost.
Back in July, I sat down with rising music singer “Dylan Holland.” (Follow him here.) During our interview we spoke about the rising number of artists who were using fake followers. Dylan Holland at the time stated how frustrating it was being “clean and honest” and not cheating to inflate his numbers. It was frustrating to him because while he had impressive numbers, other artists had numbers blown way out of proportion. At the time, there was not much I could do as a writer to highlight the problem.
However, as I began to write this article, I reached out to Dylan Holland and asked him what he thought about the situation now that technology has vindicated his decision to steer clear of the shady practice of buying followers.
“It was pretty difficult to not jump on the bandwagon of getting fake followers, but I kind a just kept thinking positive, kind of like if I were to do this now, how would it affect me in the long run, and I never really looked back after that.”
The phrase “not looking back” might be a huge understatement. Dylan Holland now has over 100,000 real followers. A passion base so strong that he has literally trended worldwide on Twitter multiple times! As Dylan’s career grows rapidly, his fans are gaining a stronger appreciation of his honesty, hard work, and dedication. The fact that he is an amazing singer just adds to his appeal.
A while back I asked a music industry insider if he thought buying followers helped an artist? He responded “fake followers don’t buy records, concert tickets, or call radio stations.” His point was well taken. As a reporter I can state that fake Twitter followers also don’t read newspapers. On a personal note, this investigative report has taught me a lot. Many times we see the sketchy politician or businessman get ahead by manipulating numbers and cheating, but as evident from what I have written, in the end “winners never cheat, and cheaters never win.”