Legions of fake followers may no longer inflate a person's coolness factor
Sometimes it can seem like Twitter is chock full of phony or silent feeds. In fact, only 1 in 4 accounts actively posts tweets, according to research by social media research firm Semiocast. The leaders of the popular social network are aware that these unused and fake accounts can be used to inflate follower numbers, making some people seem more important and relevant than they actually are. As a result, Twitter is considering ways to downplay your follower numbers and focus on how many friends actually read what you're tweeting.
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams spoke at a BuzzFeed panel in New York about some of the changes up for consideration. "The dream metric is how many people saw your tweet," he said. It's unlikely that Twitter will end the use of follower numbers completely, but some additional information about how involved a person is on the network could be a more accurate depiction of their presence. Besides, if the team can figure out a way to glean that level of detail, individuals could one day find out exactly which of their friends read their updates. It would mean better, clearer communication on the network.
Considering how important social media engagement is for businesses, for celebrities, and for politicians, a clearer picture of Twitter influence would certainly be welcome. So as long as there's no effort to crack down on some of the great fake personas on Twitter, we're all for this change.
[Image credit: kaythaney]
This article was written by Anna Washenko and originally appeared on Tecca
More from Tecca: