...or so it seems, having just read the Social Media Bots article published last Saturday in the New York Times, everyone from small businesses to celebrities are buying their social media engagement in bulk. The scale of the problem highlighted in the article really brings into question the validity of the platforms themselves for any commercial promotional activity.

"Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people," said Rami Essaid, the founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specialises in eradicating bot networks. "You can’t take any tweet at face value. And not everything is what it seems."

"It’s fraud," said James Cracknell, a British rower and Olympic gold medalist who bought 50,000 followers from Devumi. "People who judge by how many likes or how many followers, it’s not a healthy thing."

I’ve always believed it better to look at shares and comments over likes as a clear indicator of genuine engagement with any video content we’ve produced for a brand.

The micro influencer movement was born from a dwindling validity in large-scale influencers with an over inflated following. I think we are set for more social and influencer marketing backlashes, and marketeers with have to tread very carefully to maintain brand credibility with fans. We can’t all go the aloof route of Supreme and Palace skateboards.

Read the full NY Times article here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Phil Good
Creative Director.