I was sent this link a couple of days ago by Boolean.co.nz which raises some interesting issues about the extent of John Key’s public support on social media.
To be fair I asked for an analysis of my own more modest twitter following to establish the extent of my “true” followers. The results of this analysis speaks for itself. (To see the comparison with my followers see below or click on the link).
Boolean has since done an update, which I’ll post shortly. But the question has to be asked, how come so many of JK’s followers are not real? Where did they come from? Can you “buy” followers?
Chris Keall’s recent article in The National Business Review had John Key @johnkeypm as ‘top of the twits’ with over 50,000 subscribers. With Newt Gingrich and Kevin Rudd amongst others being accused of buying Twitter followers I thought it would be interesting to investigate some of John Key’s followers.
In the comments for the NBR article MikePSmith suggested most of the followers were spambots with CK replying “overall it looks like most are living breathing New Zealanders”. I cast my eye over the followers and decided exactly the opposite: most of the following accounts looked extremely fishy.
The @johnkeypm account is a managed account – that is the man himself does not update it personally. Much like the man it is decidedly bland and delivers the party line more like an RSS feed.
To make the account look as popular as possible accounts that regular users block and report for spam are kept as active followers. If the account isn’t actually being used in the traditional manner those annoying spam accounts aren’t interfering with everyday use.
So with the help of Twitter API I analysed the followers of the @johnkeypm account. The results confirmed almost exactly what my eyes had already told me: most of the accounts were spambots, zombies, or worse.
With a very loose definition of an actual Twitter user as opposed to a spambot zombie (10 followers, 10 tweets, tweeted this year, have bothered to change the display picture from the default) the follower count falls to less than half at 22,000 accounts.
If you care to further refine the criteria to what most of us would consider regular active users the numbers just fall away. Limiting to accounts based in New Zealand (not fair to expats or those who choose not to disclose) then the numbers dwindle even further.John Key probably remains New Zealand politician with the largest Twitter follower count but with a much smaller margin than the numbers suggest – if one is at all concerned about quality or real accounts.
UPDATE 15/06/2012
Other accounts will be analysed for comparisonClare Curran @clarecurranmp
No avatar pic 8% (197 accounts)
No tweets 5% (115 accounts)
No followers 1% (15 accounts)
Inactives 22% (538 accounts) Corrected 16/06/2012
‘Real’ followers 85% (2076 accounts)Update coming
I mean really? Is that all you have left…criticizing followers on Twitter?
i just bet you have 15 preprepared questions fro Tuesday all ready to go to show them you know your stuff in social media.
Clare – interesting and not surprising.
My wife works in PR and it seems to be “industry standard” that companies set up social media zombie accounts to prove the efficacy of their campaigns to their clients.
It is a pretty morally bereft space they operate in.
Surely you don’t really believe those spambots will feel bad at being ‘criticised’ Whaleloil? They are non existent. They are ex parrots – ceased to exist so to speak. Thats the whole point.
Perhaps you should analyse your own account – I’m sure you’d find more than just a few zombies…
Interesting post Clare. I’m sure many like Whaleoil will cry “waste of time!!!” etc, but I think the public need to know the extent John Keys crowd will go to to have him stay top of the pops.
I’m willing to bet that most of them are just ordinary folk who don’t really use twitter but have set up an account and decided to follow the Prime Minister. My dad has a twitter account with no tweets and no pictures and probably no followers (apart from me), and I think he follows the PM actually.
Interesting that Cameron should leap to the defence of Key. And the figures are fascinating. I wonder if there is a PR firm from which you can buy twitter followers?
Pretty trivial post this one i reckon… i dont think you can read much into someone’s twitter followers. I follow john key but i cant stand the guy….
Stick to the issues: asset sales, super, child poverty…
I don’t think it’s a trivial post. It’s might not be important as asset sales or child poverty, but as long as people are arbitrarily using follower counts to draw conclusions about John Key’s influence, its valid to point out the flaws of doing so.
One other thing to add is that a percentage of followers will be people like myself – those who are not fans of Key’s work, but follow him to “keep an eye on the enemy” so to speak. See what he’s doing, and respond if he says anything stupid.
Focussing on the things matter, Ctd
Wow, pretty important stuff here. Glad you’re using your time effectively, Clare. I just hope you didn’t spend any taxpayer money on this crap.
I mean, look at these twitter accounts with no avatar! They’re not real people! Real people put a picture of their face on the internet!
Wait… I… my twitter account has no avatar… few posts… and I have no followers… AM I A GHOST PERSON?!
“Focussing on the things matter”
Really? Guess you’ll be starting defamation procedings against Duncan Garner and the tv3 website in the morning.
Let’s face it, being called a liar and saying you make things up and publish them as fact – That’s your credibility exposed for all to see.
Don’t matter to me. I’ve known what you are since I saw you on 60 minutes, but mainstream tv and it’s ‘top’ political analyst… It must be true.
“Wait… I… my twitter account has no avatar… few posts… and I have no followers… AM I A GHOST PERSON?!”
No, probably just lonely… Or a tory shill.
Not sure if I’m allowed to post this link and text of the article, but do so for context.
I will, of course, abide by the moderators actions.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Whale-Oil-lies-again—opinion/tabid/1135/articleID/246696/Default.aspx
Opinion by Duncan Garner
For the record, claims made by the Beached Whale (Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater) that 3 News secured footage of John Key’s 2008 speech from the PSA are inaccurate.
The footage is held in our library.
It brings into question the credibility and accuracy of all his other blogs, read by dozens of followers.
Big claims from a big man on a small blog site.
It’s a shame he is wrong. Why does Slater make so much of his stuff up?
Someone please, give that man a job so he can contribute to New Zealand society.
Surely there is a sheltered workshop out there that can help?
At least Kiwiblog, who made the same inaccurate claims, corrected themselves the night before.
There’s only one popularity contest that matters, and that’s the general election.
Did anyone notice that even fewer people voted Labour in 2011 than 2008? You’ve been attacking Key on a personal level for years now, and yet people keep on voting for him for some reason. Maybe it’s time to abandon the hope that if we continue with the same behaviour for long enough, we will start to see different results?
You can have my party vote back when this stupid stuff about “you can’t trust dodgy John Key” stops. Until then, I will be electorate voting Grant Robertson, and party voting Greens.
“You can have my party vote back when this stupid stuff about “you can’t trust dodgy John Key” stops.”
Because the Green’s don’t mention anything about dodgy nat mps :rolleyes:
I think the real point, Cameron, is that Key’s gloss has gone. It’s not about who’s got more follows than whom, it’s about people finally beginning to see the truth about Key, which is that he is 100% idealogically driven and is befet of moral fortitude. He is a man of no substance It’s a shame it’s taken so long to happen, which is largely due to the uncanny phenomenon of “Key as good, Key as caring, Key as nice, Key as believable, Key as trustworthy, but ultimately Key as deceiver and manipulator”. This will be his legacy, and is what we’re beginning to see developing now.
For some good advice on why it’s inadvisable to buy Twitter followers, read this blog post:
http://porternovelli.co.nz/news-and-views/article/is-buying-twitter-followers-ethical
By Bill Rundle, at PR agency Porter-Novelli.
{deleted, personal attack. Final warning, Grant}
{deleted, not who you say you are, quite clearly, Grant}
{ deleted, off topic sorry, Grant}
Oh come on Labour, what are you trying to prove here?
More policy and less statistics about John Keys twitter followers please, for the love of goodness!
The real question is how many of Key’s followers post Biblical quotes at the same time as they betray their wives.
john key has banned me from commenting on his fb page…but the narcissist has kept my “like” and sends me his posts
Deleted. Personal. Clare
Lets be clear, John Key is using public money to pay for his social media staff.
Could the same staff be harvesting email accounts from Nationals various databases and then generating twitter accounts for these people ? All on the taxpayers time ?
I suggest that the ‘real’ Key followers are around 8,000 Oh, and by the way; how many financial Members does the NZ National Party claim to have in 2012 ? ? ?