UDATED 11/16/14: Barack Obama is political king of the fake Twitter followers, with more than 19.5 MILLION online fans who don't really exist

11/17/2014

Fakest of the fake? Barack Obama's Twitter following includes 19.5 million people who don't exist, and the first lady has 1.9 million nonexistent fans of her own

Among influential U.S. political tweeters, President Barack Obama is the undisputed king of the fake followers. A MailOnline analysis ranks his sizable Twitter following as the most deceptive total among the 21 most influential accounts run by American politicians: More than 19.5 million of his 36.9 million Twitter followers are accounts that don't correspond to real people.

The four phoniest accounts in the sample, which included Democratic and Republican Party leaders in Washington, D.C., were those belonging to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, first lady Michelle Obama and the White House communications shop.

Of the president's 36.9 million Twitter followers, an astonishing 53 per cent – or 19.5 million – are fake accounts, according to a search engine at the Internet research vendor StatusPeople.com. Just 20 per cent of Obama's Twitter buddies are real people who are active users.

Overall, the five most influential accounts linked to the Obama administration – the first lady has two – account for 23.4 million fake followers.

Biden's nonexistent fans make up 46 per cent of his Twitter total, with 20 per cent being 'real' followers. The White House's followers are 37 per cent fake and 25 per cent active; the first lady's primary account is 36 per cent fake and 29 per cent active.

The Daily Caller reported on Tuesday that Michelle Obama's Twitter followers included nearly 2 million nonexistent people, a number that lines up with MailOnline's findings.

Fake Twitter followers seem to be chasing U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle, but Barack Obama is the undisputed champ

A matched ticket: Vice President Biden's fake-follower ranking was 46 per cent, with just one-fifth of his supposed Twitter audience consisting of human beings who are actually listening

Michelle Obama's complaints about Americans' diet and exercise are falling on deaf ears, at least among the 71 per cent of her Twitter followers who aren't tuning in

The difference between fake followers and 'real' ones is comprised of 'inactive' accounts, which may relate to real people but no longer send tweets with any regularity.

There are several reasons why so many followers of a given Twitter account might be considered 'fake.' In some cases, direct marketers and other spammers follow influential accounts en masse, hoping to be followed in return.

Twitter's own CEO, Dick Costolo, has a personal feed followed by 1.1 million people, but 31 per cent of them are fake.

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