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Paying For Followers May Cost You A Job

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This morning, my husband and I were discussing a potential job that requires him to have a high number of Twitter followers. It’s not surprising, many social media jobs are emphasizing the importance of a digital following as a requirement for the job. How many Twitter followers do you have? How many likes do you average per week? Have you made Instagram’s popular page? Consider it a new-age online popularity contest.

As I took our issue to Google, naturally, I discovered that for the price of my iced chai latte, I could unethically buy up to 1,000 new followers. And that was the minimum package, another $20 could buy me triple the amount, and so forth. Essentially, you can become a social media superstar overnight.

With the pressure to impress employers, job seekers are turning to this social media black market to increase their digital worth. With websites such as, TwitterTechnology, Intertwitter, Fiverr, users have the option to purchase their ‘influence’ with websites promising fast delivery of thousands of followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. It’s not just job seekers that are buying, celebrities, politicians, start ups, and bloggers are rumored to be doing the same.

Utilizing bots and inactive users, these services are spamming social media websites with fake accounts and junk messages. Facebook’s Headquarters reported approximately 83 million fake Facebook accounts that they are cleaning up.

So why risk it?

To be insta-popular, of course. Social media jobs are looking for candidates with clout. In a digital world, where not only individuals, but brands are pushing their way to top - influence is key. You are that much more likely to get a job when an employer checks your Twitter to find thousands of followers retweeting you.

But here’s the catch – you can get caught.

Employers can now weed out the imposters on Twitter using applications such as Statuspeople.com’s Fakers application, or Social Baker’s FakeFollowers application. These applications allow you to measure your own, as well as other’s fake, inactive, and good followers on Twitter. If your faker number runs under 20%, you tend to be on the safe side. On TwitterCounter.com, there is the option to enter the name and receive a three-month view of the follower count. If there are irregular significant jumps, then all signs point to fake.

While there is still no sure way to find out if you bought Facebook friends or Instagram followers, there are a few signs that employers look for:

-       Sudden spike in the number of friends, followers, likes, etc.

-       Lack of engagement

-       Multiple followers with out a profile photo (especially if paired with an obscure, computer-generated looking name)

-       Spam and ad-related replies

So think twice before cashing in for a few extra (thousand) followers. If caught, it could actually cost you the job. It’s just not worth it.

Also From Forbes: Seven Tips To Get More (Legitimate) Social Media Followers