There is a new trend in the Twittersphere, well actually it's not all that new. People are buying followers. Yes, you read that right. Sounds ridiculous, but a lot of people do it. Mostly public figures, but even us normal people do it too. In fact, at least 11,283 Twitter users have purchased more than 72,000 fake followers.
However, public figures seem to be the biggest culprits. For example, 34% of Lady Gaga's 28,839,110 follwers are fake according to www.statuspeople.com. And even politicians are doing it. On July 21, 2012 there was a 17% increase in Mitt Romney's Twitter followers, and 4 out of 5 of those new follower accounts were made only three months prior.
So where do you even find fake followers to buy? Honestly, all you need to do is a Google search for buying Twitter followers, however they can be found on Ebay and even Google shopping. And be prepared to spend any where between $2 and $55 per 1,000 followers. The more expensive they are the more "real" they appear to be.
So next time your looking at your favorite celebrity's Twitter follower list and wonder how they heck they have so many, remember, most of them are probably fake.
Check out this infographic presented by Social Selling University to learn more about fake followers and the appearance of social media.