Which Sports Media Members Have the Most Fake Twitter Followers?

All, Media Gossip/Musings, Twitter Jason McIntyre August 24th. 2012, 11:10am

The New York Times wrote about the new fad of “buying” twitter followers to enhance your popularity on the web, and added these compelling stats: “According to the StatusPeople tool, 71 percent of Lady Gaga’s nearly 29 million followers are ‘fake’ or ‘inactive.’ So are 70 percent of President Obama’s nearly 19 million followers.” We decided to take the StatusPeople tool – if it’s good enough for the Times to tout, it is good enough for us to use! – and apply it to the sports media. The results are below. The twitter following of each media member (as of this morning, 9 am) is in parentheses.

Bill Simmons, ESPN (1,795,488)

Adam Schefter, ESPN (1,730,829)

Erin Andrews, Fox Sports (1,469,596)

Peter King, Sports Illustrated (909,825)

Jay Bilas, ESPN (377,149)

Chris Mortensen, ESPN (843,698)

Michelle Beadle, NBC Sports (618,068)

Jay Glazer, Fox Sports (341,177)

Trey Wingo, ESPN (551,775)

Jason Whitlock, Fox Sports (138,883)

Darren Rovell, ESPN (242,585)

Grant Wahl, Sports Illustrated (239,631)

Tough to draw any conclusions from fake/inactive/good numbers, but if you tally the “fake” and “inactive” columns like the Times did for Lady Gaga and Obama, you get … some sports media members with nearly 70 percent (higher for some). What does this mean, that sports media members are buying twitter followers to enhance their own brand and marketability?

It seems highly unlikely they would do something like that (maybe low-level wanna-bes, like Danny Sheridan). Their agent? Well, that’s another story. Others have floated the idea to me that twitter could artificially be enhancing the tally of media members to keep them coming back to twitter, talking about it, writing about it, etc.

Also …

- 32 % fakes seems to keep coming up. Why is 1/3 of the twitter following for so many sports media heavyweights fake? StatusPeople needs to tighten things up.
- Darren Rovell sure has a lot more “good” followers than everyone else. Is that because he’s so active? Or because he tweets so much information/news?
- Lastly, from the “about” section of StatusPeople:

For those of you with 100,000 followers or less we believe our tool will provide a very accurate insight into how many inactive and fake followers you have.
If you’re very, very ‘popular’ the tool will still provide good insight but may better reflect your current follower activity rather than your whole follower base.

Oh.

And since four of you were curious, here are my numbers:

aroundtheweb

87 Responses to “Which Sports Media Members Have the Most Fake Twitter Followers?”

1
Big Hoss Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:14 AM
I so wanted Darren Rovell to have 99% fakes because he’s just insufferable about it. Oh well.
2
Mantis Toboggan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Adarn Schefter. Legend.
3
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:16 AM
Fascinating. Nice write-up J-Mac.
I can’t imagine why celebs would possibly do this.
/wanking
4
ohheelyeah Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:16 AM
One look at Erin Andrews and its hard to doubt that her twitters are fake.
5
RexKramerDangerSeeker Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:17 AM
New York Times wrote about the new fad of “buying” twitter followers
The only nit to pick is that it’s anything but new.
6
HtownHacker Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:19 AM
80% of my huge throng of followers are good. Why would even one fake wanna’ follow me?
7
Nada Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Twitter followers should be know as Twits, especially those of Erin Andrews. An exception for followers of Lady Gaga, who should be known as Twats.
8
TheFlack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:21 AM
I hated stats class in high school, but doesn’t it seem natural the more followers the more fakers? I agree hard to know what to make of this. Would be nice if creators of the program came out with some guidelines to determine who might have bought followers. But even if you bought them, do we know that bought followed = fake followers?
/700 followers; 1% fake
9
tedkerwin Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Darren Rovell has a low numbers because even twitter bots stop following him.
10
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Why would even one fake wanna’ follow me?
I’d say 4 of my 128 are fake. They come and go and are mostly weird names that want you to click on a porn site.
11
Mantis Toboggan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:25 AM
I hated stats class in high school,
60,000/100,000 of America’s population did as well.
12
GloriousMullet beats jokes into the ground Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:25 AM
And since four of you were curious, here are my numbers:
You need a section that shows how many followers you’ve blocked for no apparent reason
13
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:26 AM
i love that version of beadle
14
scripty Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Darren Rovell has a low numbers because even twitter bots stop following him.
We’re done here.
15
Jay V Of Considerable Influence Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:26 AM
It seems highly unlikely they would do something like that (maybe low-level wanna-bes, like Danny Sheridan). Their agent? Well, that’s another story. Others have floated the idea to me that twitter could artificially be enhancing the tally of media members to keep them coming back to twitter, talking about it, writing about it, etc.
Or, the actual truth…Twitter is just full of spammers.
16
kaiserwilhelmreems is commenting too quickly Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:27 AM
They come and go and are mostly weird names that want you to click on a porn site.
sounds like TBLAD
17
HtownHacker Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:27 AM
I’d say 4 of my 128 are fake.
You have 128? I thought I was following you but I think it’s the wrong guy.
18
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:27 AM
why is this relevant? do these mopes have bonuses in contracts linked to twitter/facebook popularity?
19
molemaninthemorning Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:29 AM
I have around 900 followers and I try to block fake ones whenever I notice them, I’m presuming that those who have six digits of followers have all their notifications disabled and aren’t getting emails when they get a follower so aren’t giving a shit about who is following them. I know if I never deleted one I’d probably have around 1200 or so, if I had to guess, so that third number seems kind of normal.
20
scripty Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:29 AM
If you follow Trey Wingo, you should kill yourself.
21
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:30 AM
found the Highwaymen at the library and imported it. just now getting the first listen. maybe they should have just one guy sing per song
22
molemaninthemorning Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:31 AM
Huh, also I don’t follow a single person mentioned in this post. Go figure.
23
tedkerwin Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:33 AM
I also wonder if an active account is just someone who has Foursquare tied to Twitter. I have seen many accounts that are just check ins.
24
scripty Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Remember what George Carlin said about a person’s coffee order?
Well, same goes for a person’s discussion on their Twitter followers.
25
tedkerwin Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Huh, also I don’t follow a single person mentioned in this post. Go figure.
Think I follow four, Simmons, Whitlock, GLazer and Schefter, I might follow Wahl, can’t remember
26
Jason McIntyre Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:35 AM
You need a section that shows how many followers you’ve blocked for no apparent reason
probably 25 but for one reason or another.
27
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Jason, you need a class in presentation of scientific data. Would a stacked bar graph really have been that hard?
28
Jason McIntyre Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:37 AM
why is this relevant? do these mopes have bonuses in contracts linked to twitter/facebook popularity?
did you read the NYT link? guy bought 200k followers, helped his comedy career.
new world we live in.
29
Tim Ryan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:38 AM
I follow BeakeringNews and frankly, that’s all that matters.
https://twitter.com/beakeringnews
30
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:38 AM
You have 128? I thought I was following you but I think it’s the wrong guy
I have my TBL one and my real name one. I mainly use my real name one. Hard to keep active on both from phone
31
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:39 AM
I follow BeakeringNews and frankly, that’s all that matters
You’ve slacked on your Beaker retweets lately
32
A.P. Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:39 AM
/buys 5,000 fake followers for each TBL writer
//only 500 for Eifling and 0 for Shamburger
33
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:39 AM
That said, I think this is a pretty cool idea to look at. With the caveat that most of these inactive/fake followers have nothing to do with ‘buying’ followers and more to do with those accounts.
Half of my twitter followers are fake or just follow everyone tweeting certain key phrases.
34
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:39 AM
did you read the NYT link?
this place isn’t very user-friendly
35
s1rweeze Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:39 AM
I follow common_squirrel and frankly, that’s all that matters.
https://twitter.com/common_squirrel
36
GloriousMullet beats jokes into the ground Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:40 AM
probably 25 but for one reason or another.
Hmmm, maybe it was our sushi conversation
37
spencer096 Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:40 AM
id let michelle beadle touch my cock.
38
spencer096 Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:41 AM
if you don’t follow 8-ball the tiger, you’re an idiot.
39
tedkerwin Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:41 AM
why is this relevant? do these mopes have bonuses in contracts linked to twitter/facebook popularity?
Also people call up hotels and companies and bargain for upgrades for positive tweets about the hotel, product etc.. Companies have no real handle on social media marketing yet. No one wants to be Progressive Insurance dealing with accusations of defending the policy holder’s killer.
40
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:42 AM
did you read the NYT link?
Ironic coming from someone who often posts links in posts which don’t even fit the narrative.
/sad, really
41
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:42 AM
36 – #subtle
42
Tim Ryan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:42 AM
WWoS is a post assassin these days.
43
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:42 AM
did you read the NYT link? guy bought 200k followers, helped his comedy career.
new world we live in.
yeah we did this discussion awhile back. that’s the only example someone could come up with, that comedian.
therre has to be positive numbers that can be directly related to increased twitter use/followers. for products/marketing i can easily see it working and understand it from a big chink of the writing i’ve done in the past two years, but for people?
44
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:43 AM
WWoS is a post assassin these days.
Where did this come from? I’ve been pretty good ever since Bear yelled at me for getting on Duffy’s case too much.
45
Tim Ryan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:44 AM
WWoS is a post assassin these days.
Where did this come from?
Wasn’t too serious, but you seem to be more cantankerous lately.
46
sousedbergin Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:44 AM
There are great deal of bots, if I write about how dumb buying a Toronto condo is immediately I get followed by Toronto real estate agents. Software that automatically skims for words and follows?
47
kaiserwilhelmreems is commenting too quickly Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:45 AM
for products/marketing i can easily see it working and understand it from a big chink of the writing i’ve done in the past two years, but for people?
that’s raycess
/jeremy lin’d
48
Jay V Of Considerable Influence Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:46 AM
I have around 900 followers and I try to block fake ones whenever I notice them, I’m presuming that those who have six digits of followers have all their notifications disabled and aren’t getting emails when they get a follower so aren’t giving a shit about who is following them. I know if I never deleted one I’d probably have around 1200 or so, if I had to guess, so that third number seems kind of normal.
Yea, I have a little over 500…and I’ve blocked around 500 as well. I block at least one spammer a day, most days more than one.
49
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:46 AM
I can barely make out the numbers, and they aren’t ordered in any logical way, as far as I can tell.
Darren Rovell sure has a lot more “good” followers than everyone else.[...]because he tweets so much information/news?
I thought everyone hates Rovell. I hate him and I’m not really sure what he does, or where he works.
50
Tim Ryan Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:47 AM
Of my followers, I’ve learned the following:
Fake: 5%
Inactive: 39%
Good: 56%
*Merton Hanks dance*
51
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Wasn’t too serious, but you seem to be more cantankerous lately.
Nah, I was getting on Duffy and Eifling a while for posts that had no logical flow and looked like a stream consciousness rambling that failed to make a point. The “ex-Yankees/PED” annoyed me, other than that I’m just the same happy-go-lucky get along with everyone WWoS I’ve always been.
I wasn’t even the one who pointed out the fraction problem.
52
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Yea, I have a little over 500…and I’ve blocked around 500 as well. I block at least one spammer a day, most days more than one.
I try not to, just in case any hot lonely girls really do want to have sex with me.
53
Urinal Mint wants to meet up for pizza Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:50 AM
The last time Lisk RT’d me, I picked up 8 spam followers.
54
gfunk supreme Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Yea, I have a little over 500…and I’ve blocked around 500 as well. I block at least one spammer a day, most days more than one.
Serious question: What is the point of blocking spammers? I did at first but then stopped because it didn’t seem to make any difference.
55
Grizz Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:53 AM
I still cant imagine someone being suspended for fleeing the scene of an accident.
56
phillymantis915 Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:53 AM
I try not to, just in case any hot lonely girls really do want to have sex with me.
I enjoyed the spam follower the other who had as their description that if you’re not clean, you had to use a condom, otherwise, you can could raw dog her.
57
GloriousMullet beats jokes into the ground Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:54 AM
The last time Lisk RT’d me, I picked up 8 spam followers
Funny, you RT’d me last night and I picked up half a dozen or so
58
Babar 2.0 Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I enjoyed the spam follower the other who had as their description that if you’re not clean, you had to use a condom, otherwise, you can could raw dog her.
Not spam…sounds like Spencer’s mom finally got an account.
/mole’d
59
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:57 AM
I thought everyone hates Rovell
I like him. Not everything is great. Feel like the hate is jr. high-ish
60
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:58 AM
it’s so dead today i’m going to send a link to myself
61
phillymantis915 Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Not spam…sounds like Spencer’s mom finally got an account.
/mole’d
I laughed at this a lot.
62
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:58 AM
I still cant imagine someone being suspended for fleeing the scene of an accident
Substance abuse, brah
63
cracker jack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:03 PM
What’s also fascinating is the amount of random slut bags that athletes openly follow on Twitter.. I cant remember who but the other day I think it was one of the Patriots I follow retweeted this chick in her underwear who tweeted a bible quote, great stuff.
64
HtownHacker Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:03 PM
I enjoyed the spam follower the other who had as their description that if you’re not clean, you had to use a condom, otherwise, you can could raw dog her.
Spam bots are smart. I never get any of these types of followers.
65
José Pippen Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Out of this list, I only follow Schefter and Bilas. And I have no idea why I follow Schefter.
66
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:07 PM
And I have no idea why I follow Schefter.
Same. I don’t tweet anything obscene or lude and still get the classy broads, er hussies, spamming. Then they’ll go away like a week later.
67
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:08 PM
Spam bots are smart. I never get any of these types of followers.
touche
68
TheFlack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Did someone just mention bibles? Segue in 3, 2, 1 … working from home today and on golf channel saw commercial for new game show – American Bible Challenge. Pitting bible thumpers’ knowledge of the good book against each other. Hosted by? Jeff Foxworthy. True story.
69
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:12 PM
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/3/22/2889681/mike-trout-20-year-contract-extension
This was written by BEFORE this season about what it would take to sign Trout for essentially a lifetime contract, including the possibility of injuries and that he couldn’t hit Major League pitching. The numbers are there for a baseline in the article.
What would be the offer for a 15 year contract… 1) the highest the Angels would offer given injury risk, two more years minimum salary (or 2* arb); and the lowest Trout would accept given that he has his own injury risk, and regression to the mean, but also that in 5 years he could easily be the best player in baseball and a free agent.
I wonder who would say no to 15 years, $200 million. Given that it’s really 10 years for $170 mil for UFA years, would Trout pass up that guarantee? I feel like the Angels might consider it.
70
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:13 PM
What’s also fascinating is the amount of random slut bags that athletes openly follow on Twitter..
well the cliche is that they like to make it rain at strip clubs. this slays me. why spend so much money there? you are one step above a regular guy in that you probably can get laid by strippers, but why would you want to be? skankville usa
71
GloriousMullet beats jokes into the ground Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:13 PM
What the hell WWoS
72
cracker jack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:14 PM
Did someone just mention bibles? Segue in 3, 2, 1 … working from home today and on golf channel saw commercial for new game show – American Bible Challenge. Pitting bible thumpers’ knowledge of the good book against each other. Hosted by? Jeff Foxworthy. True story.
Ok confession I watched this last night. It was actually pretty cool.
73
cracker jack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:15 PM
What the hell WWoS
He’s just a weird dude, don’t mind him
74
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:15 PM
I don’t follow celebs because if they say something crazy, I’ll see it RT’d soon enough. I follow Red Sox/Patriots guys, a few Preds guys, and a couple of national guys. I use twitter as an RSS feed and to post pics of my dogs. That’s about it. Plus I follow a bunch of people from here, though I’m missing a lot of you all.
75
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:17 PM
What the hell WWoS
He’s just a weird dude, don’t mind him
I didn’t think it was that weird an idea.
76
cracker jack Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:18 PM
It was just completely random and long, that’s all.
77
Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:19 PM
It was just completely random and long, that’s all.
You forgot unfunny.
/miz
78
Nada Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:19 PM
I know Whitlock is famous and all, but how does that heffalump pull such sweet tail?
79
Nada Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:25 PM
/buys 5,000 fake followers for each TBL writer
//only 500 for Eifling and 0 for Shamburger
I think the investigators working the McNair case need to be pulled away to look into the disappearance of the Shamburgler.
80
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:28 PM
I know Whitlock is famous and all, but how does that heffalump pull such sweet tail?
pulling tail = posing for pics
81
PeerLessPrices Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:29 PM
pulling pork
/fixed
//so hungry
82
Jay V Of Considerable Influence Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:31 PM
retweeted this chick in her underwear who tweeted a bible quote, great stuff.
I trip how many of those type of accounts there are on Twitter; I see scantily clad women tweeting bible verses constantly.
83
Walking Underwear Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:33 PM
madonna complex
84
Nada Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:34 PM
I see scantily clad women tweeting bible verses constantly.
I like my whores to be a bit Biblical, especially if they’re from Babylon.
/ Biblical Whores would be a good band name
85
mizerle06 is sarah phillips Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 12:58 PM
He’s just a weird dude, don’t mind him
I see that cj hates you too now, WWOS.
/I’M JOKING, CJ
86
roger from oz Says:
August 24th, 2012 at 11:16 PM
Peter King is a total buffoon. Does anyone real follow him at all?
87
St. Bear Says:
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:09 PM
Out of 178 followers:
Fake: 3%
Inactive: 11%
Good: 86%
Yeah, bitches! I used to purge the spammers, but then I just stopped caring.