A new data analysis by third-party researcher Travis Brown has found that a large percentage of Elon Musk’s Twitter followers are either inactive or fake.
The data, which was collected in May 2023, found that 42% of Musk’s followers have zero followers on their own account, and 72% have less than 10 followers. Additionally, 62.5 million Musk followers have never tweeted, and more than 100 million have less than 10 tweets.
According to Brown, out of the 153 million accounts following Musk, over 65.3 million (42%) have no followers, and nearly 112 million (72%) have less than 10 followers. Around 62.5 million have not posted any tweets, and over 100 million have less than 10 tweets.. The median number of followers per account is just one. Certain attributes, like default avatars and number-laden usernames, could indicate fake or inactive accounts.
Also, more than 25% of Musk’s followers created their accounts on or after October 27, 2022, which is when he acquired Twitter. Brown found that only around 0.3% of Musk’s followers subscribe to Twitter Blue, his $8 per month paid subscription service. This suggests that a small percentage of Musk’s followers are actually supportive of him and his vision for Twitter.
About 25% use default avatars, while 40% have numbers in their handles. Around 43.8 million follow fewer than 10 users. Lastly, only 0.3% of Musk’s followers (453,000) subscribe to X Premium. This data doesn’t include recent accounts or self-deactivated/suspended ones.
The sources for this piece include an article in Mashable.