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Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

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Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#11

Post by ryanar »

Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Tweeting at 4-6am and 1-3pm NY time is pretty unusual, and showing up as a dead lawyer in the registry is another quirk. That said, while interesting, I don't know if this article has offered any practical advice. They essentially said, become a private investigator to find out if they are fake.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#12

Post by pjc50 »

Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Only tweeting politics is a flag too; real humans have more than one interest.

Another indicator that's non-obvious is posting time distribution. Humans can't post 24h a day. But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#13

Post by ceejayoz »

non-entity wrote: post #4

Easiest way I've found to spot bots on Twitter is username patterns where both the handle and display name are similar or the same with 1 or 2 words (often a first and last name) and a random number. For example JohnDoe127474 . For a more realistic example: I just went to the first trending semi-poltical topic and this was the first bottish account I found (the tweet itself is pretty benign): https://twitter.com/Elsi…

It's such an oddly obvious tell.

I'm left wondering if it's like the advance fee scams; making it blindly obvious means you only attract the truly gullible, limiting the amount of skeptical followers who'd reply publicly to your bullshit tweets.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#14

Post by tomatotomato37 »

non-entity wrote: post #4

Easiest way I've found to spot bots on Twitter is username patterns where both the handle and display name are similar or the same with 1 or 2 words (often a first and last name) and a random number. For example JohnDoe127474 . For a more realistic example: I just went to the first trending semi-poltical topic and this was the first bottish account I found (the tweet itself is pretty benign): https://twitter.com/Elsi…

Talking semi-seriously here, but I wonder if the next evolution in bot accounts would be using name and avatars generated from KnowYourMeme content in order to defeat casual verification

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#15

Post by mrlala »

pjc50 wrote: post #12
Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Only tweeting politics is a flag too; real humans have more than one interest. Another indicator that's non-obvious is posting time distribution. Humans can't post 24h a day. But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

>But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

Eh lots of people have desk jobs with enough downtime to be posting throughout their work day while they are bored... then maybe they go home and are doing something else.

Although I agree it would be suspect if they never really posted outside that window.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#17

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

> His two front teeth (red box) are different shapes and sizes.

Which would be entirely normal for a guy from Manchester. My two front teeth are different shapes and sizes too. We don't really do "cosmetic dentistry" here in the UK, certainly not to the extent it's practised in the US.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#18

Post by TallGuyShort »

pjc50 wrote: post #12
Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Only tweeting politics is a flag too; real humans have more than one interest. Another indicator that's non-obvious is posting time distribution. Humans can't post 24h a day. But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

You're all describing Donald Trump, who is all too real.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#19

Post by danShumway »

pjc50 wrote: post #12
Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Only tweeting politics is a flag too; real humans have more than one interest. Another indicator that's non-obvious is posting time distribution. Humans can't post 24h a day. But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

> real humans have more than one interest.

Sure, but plenty of social accounts only focus on a few of them -- people like to segment themselves into spaces. I'm a real person with multiple interests (or am I?) but at the moment my personal blog only has technical articles on it.

Which, to be fair, a blog is not Twitter. But I could easily see myself or someone similar to me picking up a Twitter/Facebook account and saying, "I'm just going to use this space to complain about the government. I need a space to rant."

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#20

Post by TallGuyShort »

2zcon wrote: post #6

>His two front teeth (red box) are different shapes and sizes. The teeth on the right side of his mouth have not been rendered properly at all. An analysis of Max’s facial features suggests he has more in common with an AI-generated fake than with a real person. Or a real person who didn't have braces?

It's actually a very interesting contrast with what "fake" used to mean in digital media. You see models with flawless skin, perfect teeth, digitally sculpted curves, and the original photo didn't look that flawless.

Now somebody has asymmetric ears like I do, and that's a hint they're fake?

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