I just wrote a post about the weird followers bot trails many people see lately. And I instantly got 12 new followers. I'm going to investigate this a bit further by doing a few crap posts to see if I keep getting those new followers for really every new post I create. I will include something like "don't read" in the post title, so you know these posts will be bullshit.
Here's a link to my investigation https://steemit.com/scam/@crypto-econom1st/investigation-of-bot-trails-with-huge-number-of-new-followers
And in this post I will keep track of all the account names that started following me.
trail 1 (12 followers)
@saliman
@annazi
@koolis
@tianam
@farazan
@omidan
@opex
@salavit
@lomo
@taran
@habiban
@alax
trail 2 (18 new followers)
@vahed
@mahan
@koobix
@goddes
@jacobe
@coloper
@alici
@jasmeen
@omina
@yasa
@ramiha
@halak
@arezoo
@aliram
@overe
@masichan
@larison
@superpromoter (strange account as it was late and doesn't have 15 SP delegation)
trail 3 (7 new followers)
@yoox
@ara.miss
@rossita
@katee
@samimi
@sadee
@hamila
trail 4 (9 new followers)
@happo
@thome
@natalex
@palas
@locia
@ladano
@aromatic
@karek
@vaheda
trail 5 (7 new followers)
@zari
@kimix
@sorita
@famar
@saloom
@madava
@tamarax
trail 6 (17 new followers)
@ghada
@ramal
@caseyes
@wallas
@poro
@barbo
@danim
@ferial
@souq
@vona
@somon
@lomon
@kamin
@hasiba
@victoriam
@ghadir
@lenzy
trail 7 (16 new followers)
@amadim
@sulava
@berose
@milanbeko
@adran
@veniza
@danila89
@giovva
@parim
@hannaday
@jakk
@imann
@erichi
@selan
@steveet
@hesamali
I’m really curious how this will turn out... :0)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Haha I am having the same issue - Im pretty sure that someone has just set up a mass script with new accounts to follow people straight after they post as way to get noticed in the hope they will follow back. If you look at their pages they all follow a similar ammount of people and were created at similar times.
Odd and annoying to be honest - just inflates the numbers on here - it seems I have got like 100 + followers in the last week alone from this
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Haha I am having the same issue - Im pretty sure that someone has just set up a mass script with new accounts to follow people straight after they post as way to get noticed in the hope they will follow back. If you look at their pages they all follow a similar ammount of people and were created at similar times.
Odd and annoying to be honest - just inflates the numbers on here - it seems I have got like 100 + followers in the last week alone from this
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
But even with a mass script, how can one create so many new accounts? As you would need a phone number for each account you create.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You can buy Steem accounts now I think... and before that maybe these people just mass bought a whole bunch of sim cards - wouldnt surprise me the lengths some people will go to!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
If you buy a Steem account you won't get the 15 SP delegation. So these accounts should be official ones.
Buying Sim cards could be, but buying 100+ and most likely a much higher number seems really weird. And almost impossible. At least in the Netherlands where I live. Cause each sim card will cost money.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Not really @crypto-econom1st there are "Like farms" to buy likes for most social media and that's exactly what they do.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'm afraid I don't understand how that makes sense for all these followers we get from the thing I call bot trails?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I wonder if Mark knows about this.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I see now why you were asking how many followers I get for the shit post. You know...I did notice the auto follows I have been seeming to get lately. I think I have gained about 150 followers in the past two weeks, and I check my stats regularly. I was already somewhat aware of this, but seeing this post really puts into perspective just how bad the situation is. I mean one could say it's not bad because it gives the illusion of being popular, but I can't see how it's a good thing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I already did quite some investigation about this rather new Phenomena, but so far I don't understand its purpose. You could indeed say this is a bad situation die to the illusion of being popular. That might perhaps work for newbies and people not checking their statistics. But in the end it will be very disappointing of you got 400 followers and don't receive a single comment or upvote.
On the other hand you could say it doesn't really cause a huge issue. Which could come when all these accounts will upvote each other. Or if it turns out this is a scam from Steemit itself....?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I doubt that its a scam from Steemit itself, honestly, because they are making enough money to where a scam like this would be a waste of their time. Especially considering the fact that if any of these accounts start making money, they will likely get flagged into the abyss. It is more likely that it is a ring scam organized by a few different individuals. I doubt their efforts will be worth it in the long run, unless they are able to generate a substantial amount of SP unnoticed, which I also doubt will be the case. Either way it certainly is strange. We will just have to see how it develops. Pretty commendable that you took on this task of monitoring whats going on. Let me know if you find anything of significance. It certainly has piqued my interest.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for your reply!
How does Steemit Inc earn money?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Honestly, I am not sure how they are earning, but l imagine they are. I am pretty sure there are some power users on Steemit that are a part of Steemit Inc. So there are probably multiple avenues in which they earn. As far as all of the specifics, I do not know. Thanks for your reply as well friend!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit