Fake Facebook Accounts, Fake Romney Followers: The Underground Economy of Social Networks

Campbell, CA (PRWEB) August 03, 2012

Barracuda Networks, a leading provider of security, networking and data protection solutions, today released findings from Barracuda Labs most recent study, “The Underground Economy of Buying Twitter Followers: Dealers, Abusers and Fake Accounts.” The study analyzes a random sampling of more than 70,000 fake Twitter accounts that are being used to sell fake Twitter followers. The study also analyzed some of the people that are using such fake followers including the recent example of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romneys Twitter account.

Between Facebooks 10-Q filing stating that 83 million of its accounts are fake (1), to Mitt Romneys Twitter account recently falling under scrutiny for suspicious followings (2), fake social network profiles are a hot topic at the moment. And these fake profiles are at the center of a very vibrant and growing underground economy. This underground economy consists of Dealers who create and sell the use of thousands of fake social accounts, and Abusers who buy follows or likes from these fake accounts to boost their perceived popularity, sell advertising based on their now large social audience or conduct other malicious activity.

Fake users should be a huge concern to both Facebook and Twitter because of the threat they create to user trust, online security and the overall community feeling of the social networks, said Dr. Paul Judge, chief research officer at Barracuda Networks. This obviously threatens advertising revenue as organizations begin to question the true visibility and reach of their ad campaigns.

Study Overview

Barracuda Labs began this research in May 2012, setting up three Twitter accounts and purchasing between 20,000 and 70,000 Twitter followers for each from eBay and other websites. The study analyzes a random sampling of more than 70,000 fake Twitter accounts that are being used to sell fake Twitter followers.

Highlights of the study include:

Fake Facebook Accounts, Fake Romney Followers: The Underground Economy of Social Networks