So, what exactly is a fake blogger, as opposed to a new blogger? We all have to start somewhere, but there is a way difference between someone with few followers and readers at the beginning of their blogging journey and a blogger that just appears from nowhere with grand claims and thousands of fake followers. Just because you say you are the best or the biggest beauty blog in the world does not actually make it true.

I’m looking right now at a Twitter account that according to StatusPeople.. the fake follower finder, has 93% fake, 1% inactive and 6% real followers. I’ve known “bloggers” actually blag their way into the covers of newspapers based on a lie such as this. And I can name them.

Most beauty and fashion bloggers work their hearts out and my objection to the fakers is that they’ve done nothing to reap the rewards that everyone else has worked so hard for. If a blog claims nearly a million hits a month and it only began five minutes ago, then that’s a red flag.

So, a message to PRs, please, please always run your new bloggers through http://fakers.statuspeople.com/ – it takes seconds. If you can’t do that, scroll down their followers – a lot of empty eggs is a classic sign; newer fake followers often look generic and their “About Me” section is rather meaningless, so just a life quote or similar. Like this: “Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future; concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Importantly, fake followers have only ever ‘tweeted’ once or twice and have few or no other followers – usually one or zero. It’s not that hard. If a blogger is contacting you hard and often and you feel pressured to give them free product, that’s another flag up – mostly real bloggers don’t do this.

It’s up to us true bloggers to police our network properly.. nobody likes a name and shame but if it’s going on, then do let the PRs and brands know. It’s not fair for the new bloggers trying to carve a place in the blogosphere and it’s not fair on the brands heaping out product that’s being seen by nobody, anywhere, ever.

And let’s not forget the YouTube ‘botters’ – paid-for robots that ‘watch’  to increase the view count. Yes, really.

 

 

Transparency Disclosure

All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.