469
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Elon Musk's X follower count bloated by millions of new, inactive accounts::undefined

top 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Shazbot@lemmy.world 112 points 1 year ago

Elon: "There are too many fake accounts for me to seriously consider buying this company."

Also Elon, after creating millions of inactive accounts to follow himself: "Please clap."

[-] don@lemm.ee 88 points 1 year ago

So he’s in the “fake it till you make it” phase. “If we pretend there’s trillions using our service, surely trillions of real users will eventually come! 👍”

[-] BrainisfineIthink@lemmy.one 29 points 1 year ago

I was thinking today how ridiculously accurate silicone valley (the show) has turned out to be. It feels like CEOs and mid level managers all watched that show and completely missed the fact that it was SATIRE.

[-] WrittenWeird@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Was it "Veep" that cancelled because they couldn't outdo reality? If Silicon Valley were still going, this Twitter trainwreck would surely spell it's end.

[-] andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun 9 points 1 year ago

Only 7 generations if we double every time. Gotta pump up those population numbers by getting mars started and by getting rid of birth control.

Probably an engineer that was threatened with being fired if he doesn't figure out how to get Musk millions of new followers.

[-] fubo@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago

So wait, he's stooped to being a shitty copy of Steve "spez" Huffman?

[-] assassinatedbyCIA@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

It’s the other way around. Spez is trying real hard to emulate the muskrat.

[-] fubo@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

No, Spez used fake users to make Reddit seem bigger than it was back when it started. He discusses this in an online course.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddit-founders-made-hundreds-of-fake-profiles-so-site-looked-popular/

[-] AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing, it seems like a standard strategy for back in the day when you didn't have all the metrics investors seem to want now.

[-] SoyTDI@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

When you register, Twitter/X asks you to follow a popular account. He is one of then. The problem is that maybe those accounts are used once to see Twitter content and then forgotten. They could be used to login in a different website. I don't doubt that he has many bots following him, but inactive bots are useless.

[-] themajesticdodo@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Can this sub shut the fuck up about this joker for a day or two? Pathetic.

[-] Squander@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Hey mods! can you at least make it so the L4SBOT isnt posting Musk articles, this community already has plenty

[-] ilikekeyboards@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago
[-] Squander@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

OP is a bot. A pretty good bot, it keeps the sub fresh with new articles. We just need to stop talking about this guy.

[-] Kikkertje@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I just can't look away!

[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

It's enjoyable to hear about his continual and repeated fuck ups. All publicity is not good publicity.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 1 year ago

I have to wonder if he complained to the devs that his posts didn’t get enough impressions so they should update or “fix” the algorithm. Turned out it was easier to fake a change and he’s just now learning that he got tricked?

Most devs at Twitter are working just enough to look important for another week until they get accepted at another job.

[-] mr_tyler_durden@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Twitter developers fall into 1 of 3 categories:

  1. H1B Visa holders who are stuck

  2. Incompetent devs who can’t find another job

  3. True believers (you know, morons)

[-] alliwantsoda@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] Touching_Grass@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

It feels like he's covering up some type of crime more than anything

[-] sugarfree@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Personally I've seen more bot activity after his takeover than before, which is strange considering his talk about bots.

[-] JTode@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

This is reach Kim levels.

[-] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

Applies probably to all users. I'm getting a shit ton of bot followers aswell and have been for like half a year. I believe they're getting deleted on regular basis since my follower count isn't really growing despite the constant flow of new subscribtions. This isn't something that's just affecting Musk.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Not surprising to see. A lot of accounts are not active.

[-] chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Poor chump.

[-] Maheswara@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

🤣🤣 rich people have their own problems

[-] gd42@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

It would be probably cheaper and much better for the world to set up something like this for Elon, where everything is exactly how he wants it.

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=2OB4oZvfExk

He strikes me as the kind of guy who has someone sent to him to be fired daily so he can feel important, and at this point they just hire an actor each day to be the victim

this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
469 points (90.6% liked)

Technology

58818 readers
4501 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS