Power User Tricks: Bot Discovery
SocialRank provides users the ability to find granular data on an audience. In the era of bots, fake accounts, and “paid” followers, it is always best to double check the true size of a following.
To discover the number of inactive, potentially artificial, users, we recommend asking these 3 questions:
- Have they set their Avatar to their own photo?
The majority of inactive, abandoned, or fake “bot” accounts hold the default avatar assigned when the account is activated.
2. Have they posted recently/ever?
Though we must account for users simply logging on to scroll and observe, the majority of users have shared at least a single piece of content throughout their history on the platform.
3. Do they have any followers?
Fake, inactive, or abandoned accounts can usually be pegged with under 25 followers. Though this is a predictive metric, the brunt of active users that would likely engage in a campaign or influencer promotion are commonly more engaged on the medium itself.
Though these users are not guaranteed to be “fake” accounts, these 3 filters are a quick way to discover the less involved and potentially artificial fraction of an audience.
As always, hit us up at hi@socialrank.com if you have any questions, comments, requests, jokes, concerns — we want to hear it all!
