I’m usually quite good with keeping my strong opinions off my blog, but I’ve been thinking about this topic for ages to the point it’s making me slightly “unhappy”. So what happens when I feel strongly about something? I write it down. Most of it doesn’t get shared on here, but I think what I’ll be saying in the next few paragraphs is linked with blogging and social media. I know that I’ll get a lot of hates for posting this, but some things need to be said!
In the world of social media, numbers are very important! Have you ever been turned down by a company because you don’t have enough daily page views? Have you ever been offered a blogging opportunity simply because you have x amount of followers? I have! For me quality means more than quantity, but I can’t help myself from checking out my own stats more than once a day (ok, more than 5 times)! Not to mention, I get a little upset when someone unfollows… I mean who says “yippy” when the numbers go down!
“How tempting is it to get as many followers as Zoella in just a few clicks?”
There are loads of methods out there for manipulating with these “numbers” and if you’ve been in the Blogosphere for a while, then you probably know the basic tips and tricks. I won’t be name dropping here, but do you remember the bloggers who got famous because they had 5 big giveaways going on at once? Do you remember the girl who followed “everyone” on Bloglovin and got 1000 followers in a week? Do you remember the days when “follow for a follow” was a huge thing?
I’d say that these are shortcuts to getting your blog out there, but it’s not the cleanest way of doing it and thankfully most people avoid that path. However, there’s currently a trend going on at the moment and a lot of new bloggers are heading down the “dirty path.” I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers buy their twitter followers these days, mainly new bloggers. Yes, it’s frowned upon, but a lot of people still do it. How tempting is it to get as many followers as Zoella in just a few clicks?
“Even Barack Obama has over 80% inactive followers!”
I had a discussion of this topic with bloggers through Blogging Owls on twitter and most of you agree that buying followers is cheating and the ones who support it are too afraid to put themselves forward. Big brands do it, small brands do it, celebrity do it, bloggers do it and people fall for it! Even Barack Obama has over 80% inactive followers!
Buying followers is like self-image, first impressions and number obsession gone too far! A lot of followers is definitely a “fast-track” to getting noticed by brands and bloggers alike, but do we really want to go there? Especially for beauty bloggers, do we want to hear someone’s tips and reviews when their social media numbers are full of lies?
Beefing up the numbers isn’t the end of the world as a larger number means better opportunities in the blogosphere (sad, but true). Sometimes it’s ok to boost up the numbers, but because we are bloggers and our opinion matters, we really need to ask ourselves a few questions and think twice about the results before reaching for our wallets. That being said, I’m here to build up my social media the conventional way, through interesting content and interactions, which money can’t buy! 🙂
“Do we want to hear someone’s tips and reviews when their social media numbers are full of lies?”
This post is in no way targeted at any specific users. It’s mainly to raise awareness of a problem that surrounds blogging and social media.
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I couldn't believe it when I found out this was a thing! The sad truth is people will buy followers for 'opportunities', something I've heard a lot about. x
Kate | A British Sparkle
It's a relatively new trend! I think it's ridiculous that people invest in something like this in order to "save money" in the future! Not the coolest way of doing it! x
I've been on twitter since 2009 and at one point I had close to 10,000 followers. It's made it's way slowly down to 5.2k now and even though I wish I could be back to 10,000 I would never buy followers. It's obvious when someone has bought their followers and to me it seems pointless. They don't interact with you so what's the point? I'd rather people follow me because they want to, not because I've paid them to
Sophie x
http://www.sophhskii.co.uk
5.2k is amazing!!! Twitter followers doesn't appear overnight, but it builds up with time and content. Yes, some people don't realise how easy it is to tell that someone has bought their followers! x
I've noticed some new bloggers who have only been going less than a month have a few hundred followers on their blog already. They must spend a lot of time following every blog going in the hope that some of them will follow them back! Obviously might not apply to all but must be some!
Amy at Amy & More
Hundreds are fine as a lot of people do the "follow for a follow" method, which is less severe. But I'm talking about those who are new and have thousands of inactive followers without following anyone. x
my mouth dropped when i heard about the obama thing! i was shocked. it's so sad that people go the easy path to get noticed. i for one had my followers way before blogging came into my mind. i was just that girl who tweeted a lot of bull you see people tweeting until i came down. but yeahhh it's quite sad i rather continue to grow it organically than buy followers
http://www.bumascloset.com
Yeah, I'm not sure that he has bought his followers or if there's a bigger story behind it, such as every "twitter follower sales" companies makes followers to follow him to make their "made up people" seem real and interested in current affair.
You tweets are really funny and engaging! Definitely deserve all the fans. 🙂 x
That's crazy! The whole point of twitter followers is for the interaction and to increase the number of people you're reaching – if most of them are bots then whats the point?!
Drea xo
Drea's Junkyard
I think it's stupid, especially when companies do it and it's so obvious that they've bought their followers! x
I would defo think differently of someone if they bought their followers. Of course we'll probably never find out but it would really make me think again about things! I'm a believer in working for it and that's what I think everyone should do.
xxx | daisydaisyxxo
enter my Christmas giveaway!
Exactly! It makes a person less trustworthy, not just on twitter, but as a person in general. There are ways of checking it actually, but we usually take the numbers for granted. x
I honestly just think it is silly, because you can't prove how 1.000 would decide to follow you overnight and your page ranks would still be low.
Allison from http://www.mercuteify.com
It's a little worrying that someone's number get boosted by 1000 overnight! I guess unless you know them really well, you won't really know if their numbers changed overnight! x
Honestly, I hate it when companies turn down amazing bloggers/youtubers just because their stats aren't 'up there.' People who purchase followers annoy me, but fake people bug me more. I know so many people who put up an act (e.g throwing compliments around when they don't mean it)!!
Those with a lot of followers/subscribers always say 'a number is a number, it doesn't mean much to me' are usually liars. Of course the numbers matter when you're a blogger/vlogger. Personally, I feel over the moon whenever new people follow me and over the past years, I've grown used to people unfollow me. It's so complicated. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.
http://www.n-hyc.com
Exactly! There are so many talented people out there that doesn't get noticed because they don't have the right numbers! I've met so many "fake" people during uni, but you learn to spot them after a while. Glad that we are thinking alike. Blogging is more complicated than meet the eye. Thankfully you don't have to stick with the people you don't like. 🙂 x
I can't believe this is actually a thing, and follow for follow really annoys me too! I like feeling like I've earned my followers, if you know what I mean? It's so satisfying when someone follows you because they like your blog xx
Toasty
Same!!! At least follow for follow requires some work! Buying followers is all about money! Exactly, I love the positive comments I get because people like a post, not because I paid them to say so. 🙂 x
I have seen this being mentioned on twitter before but I didn't want to believe it was a real thing, like my god how sad is this! Such a shame people stoop so low for numbers. I also check my numbers more then once a day and I do get disappointed when I have readers unfollow but that's just how blogging goes and I would never buy my followers x
Beauty with charm
Bloggers and companies alike! It's awful and the fact that there are companies out there that sells this "service" is very disappointing. Yes, I am a little obsessed with numbers, but I hate the thought of cheating my way up! x