Wednesday, August 03, 2011

wow eye of newt may have some

spamish twitter followers............LIKE A MILLION of 'em

i'm sure if you're on twitter you have some too. i do. i know i do. i try to block most spams but sometimes, i just don't get around to it. BUT IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS?????????????????/

oh newticles, newticles, newticles

Newt Gingrich accused of Twitter follower fraud

by Christopher MacManus

Husband, father, grandfather, citizen, small businessman, author, former Speaker, candidate for president, and Twitter fraud? Newt Gingrich is being accused of having more than a million fictitious followers on Twitter.

Do you believe he really has that many followers?

(Credit: Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET)

The provocative blog Gawker has been on an absolute tear over the last few days, accusing Gingrich of using campaign money to hire spam agencies designed to boost Twitter follower counts. The accusations supposedly originate from an anonymous former campaign staffer.

Things got even spicier today, when Gawker cited a new report by New York-based search company PeekYou, which claims to have analyzed every Gingrich follower and to come up with an alarming conclusion:

The Consumer Ratio measures the percentage of a Twitter audience that is identified as a "consumer" or "voter" in Newt's case, vs business, private/anonymous and spam accounts. The average range sits anywhere between 30-60% human depending on this type of account. Newt's was 8% -- the lowest the team had ever seen by 5%.