Monday, October 1, 2012

Will The Real Irish Followers Please Stand Up?

I do requests now.

@IrelandStandUp is the Twitter account of www.irelandstandup.org, a group who would like us to reopen our Embassy to the Vatican. Although not a cause I warm to I do recognise the site as a well designed and seems to have a decent editorial standard based on sample articles read.

The Twitter account, on the other hand, enjoys ranting about demons, evil spirits and snares of the devil and tweeting pictures of dead babies in response to a march that dare suggest Ireland fulfill its obligation to the European Court of Human Rights, something I feel they should restrict to a private account.

Anyway, I've been asked to provide some free Twitter metrics. Below is a breakdown of their followers by country:

I for one am heartened by the interest displayed in Ireland by American Catholics, representing fully 21% of those listed. We must find some way of transferring this fervent interest in diplomats' accommodation arrangements into investment and tourism. And our neighbours in the UK also seem strongly motivated to care. Perhaps our profile is slipping in Nigeria; only 1% of @IrelandStandUp's followers hail from there. Still, there is a small part of me that feels our diplomatic relations should be decided by the folk in this country, and while I respect the right of the 47% of followers who are actually based here to support this movement, it would be nice if they were in the majority.

Yes, I noticed the fake accounts.

I knew someone would bring that up. I've seen fakes before, but these were rather strange. You may want to copy and paste them to Excel to fully appreciate. My interest was first piqued when when I noticed a dozen people with the same typo in their description: " (too) assionate [sic] about Twitter and Facebook :)"

Then I noticed that many of the phrases used were on repeat. A preponderance of life coaches wanting an Irish diplomat in the Vatican seemed improbable. Passionate shoppers abounded, as did those who felt that Jesus was their bio. Some were blank. All were missing time zone and location information. All are female, all passionate Christians.

I then spotted that all these folk were made on either the 6th or the 9th of December last year, generally with a few minutes' gap between each creation. Then I saw they all had the same error in spelling their name - capital letter for the first name, lower case for lower name.

They're reasonably high quality fakes, generally set to retweet the sickly sweet like "Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation" or "Parts and parcels of truth are the most envenomed shafts which fly from the bow of Satan". Some have actually amassed quite a few followers, proving it is possible to pass a Turing test if one is pious enough. I'd say they cost more than average.

Bear in mind at this point that one cannot choose one's followers, and there's nothing to prove that it was @IrelandStandUp. Edit: @IrelandStandUp responded quickly, seemed genuinely unfamiliar with the concept of fake accounts and eager to remedy. To my mind it was most likely an overzealous fan, or a likeminded passer-by.

Meanwhile, I'll be working out which other organisations have benefited from the munificence of the fake female followers.

NameUsernameDate CreatedDescription
Erica austinEricaaustinBEDP06/12/2011 00:56God fills my Heart. Life influencer. Thinker ...
Lindsey donaldLindseydonaldNV06/12/2011 01:17Christ Follower. Life is a beautiful struggle. Thinker ...
Melanie moseleyMelaniemoseleyG06/12/2011 01:21
Julie southwardJuliesouthwardA06/12/2011 01:34
Stacey swaffordStaceyswaffordA06/12/2011 02:12
Allison gaultonAllisongaulton_06/12/2011 19:42Child of God. Fall is my favorite season. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Elizabeth heyneElizabethheyneJ06/12/2011 19:48
Veronica welshVeronicawelsh_p06/12/2011 19:49Love this gift of God: Life. Liker of vintage things. Mother & Facebook user
Sara reresbySarareresby_Mgv06/12/2011 20:03Jesus is my Bio. Down to earth. Mother & Facebook user
Veronica welshVeronicawelshqf06/12/2011 20:03God fills my Heart. Passionate shopper. Wife & love to tweet :)
Mary keirMarykeir_Fz06/12/2011 20:12I live to serve Him in everything I do. Fall is my favorite season. Speaker. Life coach.
Mary keirMarykeir_4dp06/12/2011 20:12Jesus is my Bio. Tweeter. Mother & Facebook user
Susan thompsonSusanthompsonBs06/12/2011 20:15Jesus is my Bio. Down to earth. Speaker. Life coach.
Anna shepardAnnashepard_Tne06/12/2011 20:15Living by faith. Liker of vintage things. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Julia greigJuliagreigL3o06/12/2011 20:28Living by faith. Spontaneous, a bit impulsive :) Speaker. Life coach.
Veronica welshVeronicawelsh_606/12/2011 20:36Christ Follower. Worship leader. Speaker. Life coach.
Sandra blakeSandrablake_mHd09/12/2011 02:05Jesus is my Bio. Passionate shopper. Wife & love to tweet :)
Teresa spurrTeresaspurrgHz_09/12/2011 02:10Living by faith. Passionate shopper. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Carrie fulcherCarriefulcher_c09/12/2011 02:10Child of God. Life is a beautiful struggle. Thinker ...
Sarah mawleySarahmawleypnl09/12/2011 02:13Child of God. Life is a beautiful struggle. Wife & love to tweet :)
Julie southwardJuliesouthward_09/12/2011 02:13Christ Follower. Tweeter. Wife & love to tweet :)
Lindsay jacobLindsayjacobXKq09/12/2011 02:14God fills my Heart. Down to earth. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Amy bracegirdleAmybracegirdleb09/12/2011 02:15Jesus is my Bio. Tweeter. Wife & love to tweet :)
Catherine tooneCatherinetoone_09/12/2011 02:19I love God. Passionate shopper. Speaker. Life coach.
Stacey trevorStaceytrevorTUy09/12/2011 02:22Christ Follower. Go green! Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Lindsey donaldLindseydonald_E09/12/2011 02:24Jesus is my Bio. Lover of Good, Hater of evil. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Monica symondsMonicasymonds_C09/12/2011 02:28I love God. Passionate shopper. Mother & Facebook user
Carrie fulcherCarriefulchernW09/12/2011 02:33
Amy bracegirdleAmybracegirdle_09/12/2011 02:35Jesus is my Bio. Worship leader. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Amber houldingAmberhouldingKk09/12/2011 02:37Child of God. Down to earth. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Dana edgeleyDanaedgeleypGg_09/12/2011 02:39I live to serve Him in everything I do. Down to earth. Wife & love to tweet :)
Rachel mcgregorRachelmcgregor309/12/2011 02:45
Kristina naborsKristinanaborsS09/12/2011 02:48Love this gift of God: Life. Happy by nature. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Lisa dartLisadartu5b_09/12/2011 02:57Jesus is my Bio. Happy by nature. Mother & Facebook user
Mary keirMarykeir_gky09/12/2011 03:04God fills my Heart. Down to earth. Speaker. Life coach.
Natalie hogarthNataliehogarth_09/12/2011 03:06I live to serve Him in everything I do. Liker of vintage things. Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Teresa spurrTeresaspurrqom_09/12/2011 03:10Christ Follower. Loves beach. weather. Speaker. Life coach.
Susan thompsonSusanthompson_H09/12/2011 03:13Love this gift of God: Life. Lover of Good, Hater of evil. Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Heather mawleyHeathermawley_609/12/2011 03:21Love this gift of God: Life. Life influencer. Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Jill hogarthJillhogarthR3d_09/12/2011 03:33God fills my Heart. Love hard,work hard,play hard. Wife & love to tweet :)
Allison gaultonAllisongaultonw09/12/2011 03:37Child of God. Loves beach. weather. Wife & love to tweet :)
Shannon farrimondShannonfarrimon09/12/2011 03:39I love God. Down to earth. Wife & love to tweet :)
Monica symondsMonicasymondsYz09/12/2011 03:48Child of God. Go green! Wife & love to tweet :)
Amber houldingAmberhoulding5T09/12/2011 03:50I live to serve Him in everything I do. Happy by nature. Speaker. Life coach.
Natalie hogarthNataliehogarthY09/12/2011 03:54I love God. Spontaneous, a bit impulsive :) Thinker ...
Samantha trueSamanthatrue_uq09/12/2011 03:58Child of God. Passionate shopper. Speaker. Life coach.
April brackenAprilbracken_7Q09/12/2011 04:05Living by faith. Happy by nature. Speaker. Life coach.
Veronica respyVeronicarespy_609/12/2011 04:06Jesus is my Bio. Life is a beautiful struggle. Speaker. Life coach.
Sandra blakeSandrablakeehy_09/12/2011 04:08I live to serve Him in everything I do. Life is a beautiful struggle. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Sarah mawleySarahmawleyqvt_09/12/2011 04:14Living by faith. Down to earth. Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Amy kilpatrickAmykilpatrick_F09/12/2011 04:19
Julia greigJuliagreig_fSe09/12/2011 04:24Child of God. Down to earth. Mother & Facebook user
Samantha trueSamanthatrue_As09/12/2011 04:30God fills my Heart. Love hard,work hard,play hard. Thinker ...
Cynthia nelsonCynthianelsonMw09/12/2011 04:35Jesus is my Bio. Life influencer. Teacher. (too) assionate about Twitter and Facebook :)
Laura houldingLaurahoulding7L09/12/2011 04:37I live to serve Him in everything I do. Liker of vintage things. Thinker ...
Samantha trueSamanthatrue_oF09/12/2011 04:50Love this gift of God: Life. Life influencer. Artist. Addicted to FB :)
Denise spurrDenisespurrXYy09/12/2011 05:06Child of God. Passionate shopper. Mother & Facebook user
Denise spurrDenisespurrK4k09/12/2011 05:22
Vanessa edgeleyVanessaedgeley509/12/2011 05:27Jesus is my Bio. Life is a beautiful struggle. Thinker ...
Susan thompsonSusanthompsonDg09/12/2011 05:33Love this gift of God: Life. Happy by nature. Wife & love to tweet :)
Amber houldingAmberhoulding_j09/12/2011 05:41Jesus is my Bio. Tweeter. Speaker. Life coach.

4 comments:

failedatheist said...

I was wondering exactly how responsible someone is for having fake followers? If its something that can't be helped I don't really see the point about organisations having a number of fake followers.

I could have a number of fake followers, how would I know and if for some reason I had thousands of followers (I don't) why waste time trying to figure out who is or isn't real?

Geoff said...

Hi FailedAtheist,

Sorry I missed this comment.
Perhaps an analogy - imagine you're considering a hotel stay. You observe that their Facebook page has a thousand likes, which seems positive, but then you find out only 470 of those had actually stayed in the hotel, and 110 of the likes were fakes, paid for by someone who wanted to make the hotel seem more popular.

Would you be more likely or less likely to stay in the hotel?

theObserver said...

Fake accounts aide, I wonder how many of the Catholics who were outraged over the closure, knew we had an embassy in the Vatican in the first place? I suspect the closure hurt their sence of identity as Irish Catholics.

Geoff said...

Hard to say really - I wouldn't like to judge unduly.