I have some theories and questions around Twitter, follower counts and reach – so I thought I’d put some stuff to the test. Each social network is different, and in turn will attract both people trying to make a quick buck as well as people looking to exploit it.

I plan to try a few different cheap methods of social influence on Twitter, and see what happens. I’ve been curious about it for a while, but honestly I don’t really trust anything out there as there’s usually an angle someone’s pushing for (such as selling SEO type services) and trying to make money for themselves. I’m not, which hopefully is clear from this write up.

I also don’t want to discount the idea of value from influencing. I am personally an influencer in a few programs, but all this means is I have access to products and information that I can share how I please, because I have a perceived audience who will listen. It definitely works – an example off the top of my head is Oprah’s Book Club. Any book she recommends hits all the top sellers lists once she recommends it. The Oprah effect is real and valuable, and I’m happy with this method as long as it really reflects’s the person’s views and they’re honest in what they say. For myself, I only go into programs of products I actually like, and as long as the other side is aware that I’m not going to blindly praise anything I get – it will be honest and fair comments made publicly.

My preconceived ideas:

• A lot of people have huge followers on Twitter, and I think many buy followers for influence.
• Buying followers is cheap and easy.
• Getting influence through lots of fake followers, and getting fake accounts to write something for you actually gives you hits to your website.
• People will see the amount of followers you have being huge, and think you actually have a big influence, which will lead to real opportunities.

Questions I have are:

• Is it actually as easy as I think to get thousands of followers?
• How long will it take?
• How many hits can I get to a blog post by solely getting it tweeted out by a bunch of fake accounts?
• How much will this cost?
• Is any of this better than what an ‘SEO Expert’ will do, costing many times more?

I’m hoping the results of this will give a little less credit to many who abuse the system, and highlight that the quality of followers you have on Twitter is much more important than the actual number. Maybe I’ll be completely wrong, my tests will work amazingly well, we shall see.

I’ll probably find other interesting things to try in this process also, I’ll keep everything transparent as I continue through it.

Step One – Create a Twitter Account

I’ve already put step one into action. I’ve created @adamfowleritcom which has zero followers and zero followings. Zero tweets too. I’ve changed the picture from Twitter’s egg to a very unexciting text about my website. I don’t want to actually use this account at the end of this test for my blog as I believe this to be ethically wrong, and I use my normal Twitter account @AdamFowler_IT anyway – but I may leave it untouched so readers can see the results.

Step Two – Buy Followers

I’m not sure the best place to even buy followers. I could search on Twitter for all the accounts that spam ways of getting followers, but instead I’ve decided to use Fiverr. This way, it’s going to cost $5US a shot, and I’ll pick someone who has actual feedback. I don’t want to promote who I choose, because I’m not doing this to promote the actual usage of buying followers. It’s a very small amount of money and maybe there’s cheaper out there…

There’s a lot to choose from, so I picked one that promised 7500 followers, and another that promised 7000 followers. 14,500 total, and it takes 1 – 2 days to deliver. If they don’t deliver, I can just get a refund from Fiverr and try again.

I feel a little dirty already from doing this, like I need a shower dirty. I’ll wait a few days and provide an update.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2015-04/28/c_134190146.htm