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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / In the Twitterverse, Nobody Knows You’re A Spambot!

In the Twitterverse, Nobody Knows You’re A Spambot!

by Anne Laurie|  August 3, 20115:30 am| 39 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Excellent Links, Grifters Gonna Grift, Assholes

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So… after Real, Serious, I-Am-So-Not-Doing-This-Just-for-the-Grift presidential candidate Newton Leroy Gingrich complained that the press was not taking him seriously even though “I have six times as many Twitter followers as all the other candidates combined”, real serious journalist John Cook at Gawker wrote:

…[I]f Newt is winning the Twitter primary, it’s because of voter fraud. A former staffer tells us that his campaign hired a firm to boost his follower count, in part by creating fake accounts en masse:

“Newt employs a variety of agencies whose sole purpose is to procure Twitter followers for people who are shallow/insecure/unpopular enough to pay for them. As you might guess, Newt is most decidedly one of the people to which these agencies cater…”

That’s quite a different explanation for Gingrich’s Twitter popularity than the one offered by this Politico story on the subject: “[I]t’s his personal touch: He tweets and manages his Twitter feed himself, his campaign confirmed to POLITICO. All told, he has tweeted 2,611 times in the 29 months since he joined the site.”

If my math is correct, that works out to just over 81 tweets per month, which doesn’t seem all that ambitious; from outside the Twitterverse, it looks like ABL or John Cole must send that many on a average day, and they have real jobs to attend to. Perhaps the Politico reporter had ‘tongue so firmly in cheek as to protrude from the vulgar bodily orifice’?

Anyway, many people did not like the implication that Newt was buying friends followers, or possibly that some of their own Twit-fans might not love them for their highly compressed wit and insight. Sufficient noise was raised, in fact, that within a day Cook was able to post an “Update: Only 92% of Newt Gingrich’s Twitter Followers Are Fake“:

… Short of direct evidence of follower-buying, there’s not much more we can do to corroborate our source’s claims aside from actually pore over all those 1.3 million followers looking for fakes.
__
As it turns out, the search firm PeekYou has done just that! And it doesn’t look good for Gingrich. In a happy accident, PeekYou—which is sort of a people-oriented search index—has for the past year been conducting research on how to measure the quality of Twitter audiences, a project that included looking at politicians’ Twitter followers. And by their count, just 8% of Newt Gingrich’s followers are real people…
__
Mackey said PeekYou actually scrubbed each and every one of Gingrich’s 1.3 million followers, using 23 criteria—including name, location, and inbound and outbound links in their feed—to determine whether they were real people. “We usually find out that real people have real web identities,” he says. For the vast majority of Gingrich’s followers, that wasn’t true. They were either business accounts, private accounts, anonymous accounts that had only a user ID and no other discernible connection to the internet, or spambots. The average Twitter user, Mackey says, has a follower count that consists of anywhere from 35% to 60% real people. At 8%, Gingrich’s is the lowest PeekYou has ever seen. “When was saw it, we actually had our quality assurance people go over the numbers for two days to doublecheck,” he says.

Click through and read the stories for much more risible, and perhaps thought-provoking, detail. Of course, the shame of being exposed as a buyer of fake followers will not deter Newt Gingrich, the Baby Boomer Richard Nixon, from continuing his latest grift campaign. But, really — you go to all the trouble of producing all those impulse-driven thought-haiku in a steady stream, and somewhere between a third and three-fifths of your readership is imaginary? Sheesh, I thought blogging was the perfect example of shouting down a well…

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Reader Interactions

39Comments

  1. 1.

    harlana

    August 3, 2011 at 5:37 am

    Newt STILL around? yeesh, of course, i’ve been saying that for the last 15 years or so and he just won’t go away – twittering to the ozone on a diamond encrusted phone from Tiffany’s

  2. 2.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    August 3, 2011 at 5:45 am

    The “Professor”! Love it.

  3. 3.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    August 3, 2011 at 6:09 am

    Buchanan is making a bullshit half-ass apology for calling Obama “boy” on Sharpton’s show last night.

  4. 4.

    kansi

    August 3, 2011 at 6:10 am

    Nice comparison to Nixon….both high on the gimmickry scale.

  5. 5.

    Alex S.

    August 3, 2011 at 6:26 am

    Also, here, Ben Smith of Politico desperately trying to pretend that Newt is a serious candidate. After all, Politico is so very important to Washington insiders, and Twitter is so very important to Washington insiders and Newt Gingrich is so very important to Washington insiders…

  6. 6.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    August 3, 2011 at 6:27 am

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    I saw that mess and was he ever laying it on with the “boy” bullshit. It was clear that he was speaking freely since he was in the middle of arguing with Tweety, and boy did he ever let it ‘slip’ repeatedly.

    Ol’ Pat’s a racist and that’s the end of it. As much as he slips up he should just quit denying it and embrace who he really is.

    Here’s a little blurb from the top of Pat’s blog:

    Mocked by The Wall Street Journal and Sen. John McCain as the little people of the “Lord of the Rings” books, the tea party “Hobbits” are indeed returning to Middle Earth — to nail the coonskin to the wall.

    Yup. Racist.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    August 3, 2011 at 6:46 am

    Newt is a fake. Is it possible that MSNBC is keeping Pat on the payroll because they don’t want him going to Fox?

  8. 8.

    El Cid

    August 3, 2011 at 6:46 am

    Yes, sure, but still, he had many more Twitter followers than all the other Republican candidates.

    Who are you to discriminate against Twitterbot-Americans?

  9. 9.

    bemused

    August 3, 2011 at 6:57 am

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    I saw him do that with Al Sharpton yesterday. Did he do that with Tweety too?
    The odious old creep has doing a lot of this in the last two weeks. The Norway massacre seems to have set him off more than usual. I have a feeling he is on the verge of saying something so vile, media won’t be able to ignore it.

    btw, I turned on the tv this am and of course, he is the first one I see on msnbc. I hate starting the day out pissed off.

  10. 10.

    Yevgraf

    August 3, 2011 at 7:18 am

    On the good side, Joke did just call a statement that Halperin made stupid.

    The guy zigs across the map. They should do this show in the late afternoon at drink:30. It would make more sense to see them getting hammered and blathering than in the early AM.

  11. 11.

    Yevgraf

    August 3, 2011 at 7:27 am

    Why am I watching Chuck Todd? He’s so eager to cut social security and medicare that he’s practically foaming at the mouth.

    Fucker better hope that I never come up with a diagnosis of an incurable cancer…

  12. 12.

    bjacques

    August 3, 2011 at 7:36 am

    Pat probably though (hoped) Brevik’s massacre was the signal to start the Helter Skelter race war, and Pat wanted to mount up and ride to the sound of the guns, or at least fap to^H^H^H^H^H^H^applaud the idea.

    I still think 9/11 knocked something loose in a certain type of person, like the murderous bastard who mailed those anthrax letters. Or Marjoe Gortner the grocery bagger/National Guardsman in “Earthquake.”

  13. 13.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    August 3, 2011 at 7:40 am

    @bjacques: He wouldn’t know a “gun” if it bit him in the ass.

  14. 14.

    grandpajohn

    August 3, 2011 at 7:54 am

    @JPL: @JPL:

    Is it possible that MSNBC is keeping Pat on the payroll because they don’t want him going to Fox?

    Why would they care ? hell they ought to encourage someone to relieve them of the embarassing fool. They can’t possibly believe that he adds anything to increase viewership. his presence on MSNBC looks like welfare for wornout bigots to me.

  15. 15.

    RossInDetroit

    August 3, 2011 at 7:59 am

    Buchanan has the aura of a Grand Old Man of the GOP because he’s been around since before Nixon. He was the right man for Nixon but hasn’t changed a bit since that era and is hopelessly out of step. See him view everything through a Southern Strategy outlook and act accordingly.

  16. 16.

    Ash Can

    August 3, 2011 at 8:10 am

    Maybe MSNBC is keeping Buchanan on the payroll because they like the fact that, at least on their network, the face of the GOP is that of an old, unapologetic white bigot, rather than some pretty young face that talks in complicated dogwhistles, camouflaging all the ugliness. Truth in advertising, and all that.

    (Edited for greater accuracy.)

  17. 17.

    bkny

    August 3, 2011 at 8:13 am

    gawd, i loved that story about newt’s bogus twittees… this is someone who just a couple of short months ago was held in high esteem (newt’s an intellectual, donchaknow) and to see him collapse with such lame-ass stories — tiffany’s … bogus twittees??? it’s just too great.

    while everything else goes to hell. msnbc did a story on 75000 faa people out of work because republicans want to defund airports in predominantly democratic areas. and now they’re off for august not to return till september. and those people are left hung out to dry. staggering contempt for the people and this country and yet, they’re apparently winning the p.r. battle re the debt debate. i wonder how many of those construction workers have teatard bumper stickers on their trucks…

  18. 18.

    Ash Can

    August 3, 2011 at 8:25 am

    @bkny: Republicans also want to bust the unions in the air transportation industry (surprise, surprise). Since the Citizens United ruling, they won’t stop until every last labor union is dead and buried.

  19. 19.

    Merucha

    August 3, 2011 at 8:49 am

    Woke up with a grumpy and headachy but this story, well… thank you for the giggles. When will these people learn that there are no secrets on these here interwebs?

  20. 20.

    Kathy in St. Louis

    August 3, 2011 at 9:02 am

    It seems to me that one of the main reasons that the Newter’s fake twitter followers came to light is because someone who works for him hates his guts and blew the whistle. The folks at Politico just published his account of how many followers he had and how he manages his own account, apparently, without ever checking their facts. Good case for disregarding anything they put out as fact, entirely.

  21. 21.

    RossInDetroit

    August 3, 2011 at 9:18 am

    @Kathy in St. Louis:

    someone who works worked for him hates his guts and blew the whistle

    Newt’s had several mass staff walkouts. They’re lining up with dull axes that need working on. Expect more dirt on Newt to come to light from anonymous former employees.

  22. 22.

    quannlace

    August 3, 2011 at 9:33 am

    Anyway, many people did not like the implication that Newt was buying friends followers,

    Probably the same way he sold any of his books.
    ********
    In good news, they finally got that peacock down from that building and back in the Central Park zoo.

  23. 23.

    MarkJ

    August 3, 2011 at 9:38 am

    I can’t decide who looks worse in this – Newt for generating a fake twitter audience, or Politico for fluffing the “massive twitterverse” that exists only in Newt’s egocentric mind.

  24. 24.

    jheartney

    August 3, 2011 at 9:42 am

    @kansi:

    I think it’s unfair to Nixon to compare him to Newt. Nixon was paranoid and evil, but he was also immensely smart and hard-working. Nixon came from hard-scrabble and scrounged for everything he had; Gingrich just rides the wingnut welfare train, and grifts his way through a Tiffany’s life.

    Say what you will about Nixon, but he was never a lightweight. Newt is nothing but a lightweight.

  25. 25.

    RossInDetroit

    August 3, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Newt and Nixon each made at least one serious miscalculation that cost them dearly: Nixon in not burning the tapes when he could, Newt in overplaying his hand in the government shutdown. In both cases they thought they were more powerful than they were and could bully their way into getting what they wanted.

  26. 26.

    Bulworth

    August 3, 2011 at 9:49 am

    Speaking of Newt, is Santorum still in the race? What about PawLenty?

  27. 27.

    Tom65

    August 3, 2011 at 10:37 am

    Did Newt hire Peter Daou as his “internet consultant”?

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    August 3, 2011 at 10:42 am

    Newt is such a pathetic egomaniac. Who’s surprised that he has to pay people to support him?

  29. 29.

    Jewish Steel

    August 3, 2011 at 10:47 am

    The high water mark appears to be Pawlenty @ 32%. Which is still wretched.

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 3, 2011 at 11:10 am

    You see, the thing with Newt is, it’s all about Newt.

    When he had that mass staff walk out, I’d hazard it was about missing payroll. He doesn’t seem to understand that the universe does not revolve around his ego, no matter how much of a gravity well he seems to think it is.

    He had the same problems when he was House Speaker. His “followers” were eager to stab him in the back, and when he totally blew the ’98 midterms, they could not wait to put the shiv in at the opportune moment.

  31. 31.

    karen marie

    August 3, 2011 at 11:41 am

    @bkny: What you’re not going to hear from Transportation Secretary and Republican Ray LaHood (and which he left out of his chat with Diane Riems on her NPR show this morning) is that attempting to defund small airports in Dem districts is payback by Republicans because Dems won’t go along with Republicans on their addition to the FAA funding bill which would make it difficult or impossible for transportation workers to unionize.

    Almost everything I’ve heard about this FAA mess in the MSM has focused on Dems refusing to budge on small airports.

    Ray LaHood complained that because of Dems’ intransigence the taxpayer pays “as much as $3000 per passenger” to use remote airports that are within 80 miles of a major airport.

    LaHood phoned it in so there was no opportunity to have him address the anti-union aspect brought up by other guests, and the host didn’t ask him about it.

    Appointing a Republican to the cabinet to actively undermine the administration and working Americans was a predictable mistake.

  32. 32.

    kindness

    August 3, 2011 at 11:44 am

    In the real universe, most of us know Newt is just a skank.

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    August 3, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Srsly? That’s not even trying to hide it. But be careful going after Pat, because his sister will scratch your face off. (She’s a piece of work, herself.)

    Who raised these feral nitwits?

    Here’s a little blurb from the top of Pat’s blog:
    __
    Mocked by The Wall Street Journal and Sen. John McCain as the little people of the “Lord of the Rings” books, the tea party “Hobbits” are indeed returning to Middle Earth — to nail the coonskin to the wall.

  34. 34.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    August 3, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    Wow, Newt has an army of sock puppets!

    Watch out, everyone, they’re on the march!

  35. 35.

    Nutella

    August 3, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    @karen marie:

    Why don’t the Ds have anyone who can make a case to the public? The FAA is unfunded because the Rs are insisting on an anti-union clause which would require voting fraud in union elections. The Ds should be shouting that from the housetops.

    Note: What it requires is that on any vote to establish a union, non-voters must be counted as against the union. That smells like fraud to me.

  36. 36.

    Jay in Oregon

    August 3, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    “I have six times as many Twitter followers as all the other candidates combined”

    That’s the internet version of bragging about the +5 Holy Avenger that your half-orc paladin found in last week’s D&D game.

  37. 37.

    Barry

    August 3, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Of course, the shame of being exposed as a buyer of fake followers will not deter Newt Gingrich, the Baby Boomer Richard Nixon, from continuing his latest grift campaign.

    Great post, thank you. I have one quibble: Newt was born three years before the beginning of the baby boom. Please find some other age cohort to indirectly bash on his account.

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    August 3, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    I have one quibble: Newt was born three years before the beginning of the baby boom. Please find some other age cohort to indirectly bash on his account.

    It’s not that Newt is a Boomer, it’s just that he will never go away as long as there is one single Boomer still capable of pulling a voting lever and/or frightening a Gen-Xer. Just as the OG Nixon made 20-years-past-all-possible-political relevance strawman social1ists! ! !eleventy-one! ! ! his all-purpose boogeymonster starting with Helen Gahagan Douglas and continuing unto his last post-presidential pundittory (even while he was busily cutting deals with actual practicing ChiComs, he was excoriating the Democrats and other DFHs for our vile anti-American social1ism), Gingrich will be blaming those of us born between 1946-64 for every bad thing that happens in America or the world (even while taking full advantage of the ‘if it feels good, do it’ mantra he pretends to deplore).

  39. 39.

    serena1313

    August 4, 2011 at 3:39 am

    @bkny:

    The GOP antics will cost the nation $1.5 billion ($200 million a week). And these are the people who claim to be fiscally responsible!

    They are also demanding that all no-show union members votes will be counted as a no vote. (union elections)

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