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Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

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Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#21

Post by tablespoon »

scotty79 wrote: post #7

It's super funny that identity verification of authors of things published was basically more than half of the value twitter provided to its users, both readers and writers and the first thing Elon did was to destroy it. Just to replace it with what he calls "payment verified", which basically means you have 8$ and means to send it to twitter. Which apparently is worth less than nothing. It kind of reminds me how a w…

> I think it just helps to be a user of the product and have a deep understanding for it before you make any changes. Elon used twitter a lot, but in pretty unusual fashion (because he's world famous billionaire) so he really didn't understand what's most valuable part and took it for granted.

And it also doesn't take a genius to make changes a little slower and more conservatively. For instance, in this case they should have at least added ID verification (of the kind Facebook sometimes forces people to do), and only allowed people to verify their real names for $8.

It seems like Musk also got too used to people cutting him slack for his crap at Tesla and SpaceX, but those companies have mission narratives that people can "believe in." That's not the case for Twitter, and it's looking like Musk is going to slam into the ground without that net to catch him.

It also doesn't help that there's a Twitter replacement (Mastodon) waiting in the wings. IIRC, Bad decisions like Musk's killed Digg, because Reddit was there to take the exodus.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#24

Post by paxys »

legitster wrote: post #14

Is the fake accounts thing overblown? Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke.

Users would see it the same way they see everything else, but now the Tweet would have Eli Lilly's name, logo and a big blue "verified" check mark next to it. Yes they could do 3 seconds of diligence and check if the account is real or not, but if people actually did that then fake news wouldn't be a thing in the first place.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#25

Post by nemothekid »

gruez wrote: post #17
skyyler wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the move to have an established account with a couple thousand followers, then change profile pic and name and then do the $8 verify? I don't use twitter so I'm just assuming how this works.

Wouldn't the username look off? eg. if you set up with an account with something like "@cutecatpics" as the username to get followers, wouldn't it look suspicious even if changed the name to "Eli Lilly"? It will look like Eli Lilly @cutecatpics You can try flipping this (legit looking username to start with), but it'll look suspicious when you're trying to rack up followers Cute cat pics @eli_lilly_official

Eli Lilly's official twitter handle was @LillyPad. The fake was @EliLillyandCo.

The part about followers doesn't matter because the number of followers someone has doesn't show up in the feed, nor is it emphasized that boldly. Someone can just make a fake account, write a fake tweet, and the retweet that tweet onto their actual account.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#26

Post by drcongo »

gruez wrote: post #17
skyyler wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the move to have an established account with a couple thousand followers, then change profile pic and name and then do the $8 verify? I don't use twitter so I'm just assuming how this works.

Wouldn't the username look off? eg. if you set up with an account with something like "@cutecatpics" as the username to get followers, wouldn't it look suspicious even if changed the name to "Eli Lilly"? It will look like Eli Lilly @cutecatpics You can try flipping this (legit looking username to start with), but it'll look suspicious when you're trying to rack up followers Cute cat pics @eli_lilly_official

You can change your handle on Twitter.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#27

Post by tablespoon »

legitster wrote: post #14

Is the fake accounts thing overblown? Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke.

> Is the fake accounts thing overblown?

> Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke.

People would share it. Think: troll + random thing going viral. The troll gets the ball rolling, and not all trolls would succeed at that, but some would and after the initial push the ball would keep rolling on its own.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#28

Post by bellinom »

kerkeslager wrote: post #6
blitzar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are freee to keep your money and die if you prefer.

> You are freee to keep your money and die if you prefer. Just to be clear, you're proposing that "freedom" means "do what this corporations wants you to do or die". If this were anywhere but Hacker News, I'd think you were joking, but... you're being serious, aren't you? And let me guess: if a government says, "do what we want you to do, or die", that's regulation and therefore bad, because it's a government doing i…

It's scary how many people legitimately see this as "freedom".

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#29

Post by blindseer »

scotty79 wrote: post #7

It's super funny that identity verification of authors of things published was basically more than half of the value twitter provided to its users, both readers and writers and the first thing Elon did was to destroy it. Just to replace it with what he calls "payment verified", which basically means you have 8$ and means to send it to twitter. Which apparently is worth less than nothing. It kind of reminds me how a w…

If you asked Elon (atleast before he stepped into Twitter HQ) I'm sure he'd disagree with you, and he'd claim good ideas can come from anywhere and it shouldn't matter who they are or if they are important.

It remains to be seen if learning has occurred.

Re: Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle

#30

Post by [deleted] »

scotty79 wrote: post #7

It's super funny that identity verification of authors of things published was basically more than half of the value twitter provided to its users, both readers and writers and the first thing Elon did was to destroy it. Just to replace it with what he calls "payment verified", which basically means you have 8$ and means to send it to twitter. Which apparently is worth less than nothing. It kind of reminds me how a w…

[deleted]
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