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kytngirl

(99 posts)
Mon Mar 20, 2017, 01:17 PM Mar 2017

The REAL number of #45 Twitter Followers

#45 has been bragging about his 20 million Twitter followers and how he uses Twitter to let his followers know when he's generating "real" news as opposed to fake news.

This inspired me today to see if I could find out anywhere how many of those followers are in the US. Well, come to find out, this article in Forbes from January 2017 states that of the 20 million, 3 million are active US Twitter followers (give or take a couple of million). The rest of the followers are from other countries (including Russia-surprise!), spam, bots, zombie followers etc. I'm not saying the 3 million is written in stone, but even a higher number would be a lot less than 20 million. Makes me feel a little bit better knowing he's not corrupting that many US minds via Twitter.

[link:https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2017/01/17/trumps-20-million-twitter-followers-get-smaller-under-the-microscope/#371bda264407|

20 Million? Depends On How You Count

As of Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. ET, there were 19.92 million accounts following @RealDonaldTrump (he passed 20 million shortly thereafter). That's a lot, but remember, any Twitter account of that size accumulates a fair amount of detritus in the form of bots, spam accounts and other zombie followers who don't represent engaged users. In addition, big celebrities on Twitter are often followed by a number of overseas accounts that may or may not be legitimate. In Trump's case, many of those followers come from Moscow or elsewhere in Russia, India, Nigeria and Latin American countries, primarily Venezuela and Mexico. It's not surprising that our PEOTUS is followed by people around the world, but those people should not be counted as part of Trump's electoral base in the U.S.
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The REAL number of #45 Twitter Followers (Original Post) kytngirl Mar 2017 OP
And even that number includes a large number of people who follow just to troll him - like me! pkdu Mar 2017 #1
Ah yes, I forgot about the 'poke the tiger' bunch too. They're... WePurrsevere Mar 2017 #4
Ha! kytngirl Mar 2017 #6
There's the fact that some people love to watch a train wreck too. WePurrsevere Mar 2017 #2
I think most journos would feel obligated to follow him ... eppur_se_muova Mar 2017 #3
Thanks for the welcome! kytngirl Mar 2017 #7
July 2015, right after he entered politics... jodymarie aimee Mar 2017 #5

WePurrsevere

(24,259 posts)
2. There's the fact that some people love to watch a train wreck too.
Mon Mar 20, 2017, 01:22 PM
Mar 2017

And he's certainly been that one crazy lying deflecting projecting distracting tweet at a time.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
3. I think most journos would feel obligated to follow him ...
Mon Mar 20, 2017, 01:23 PM
Mar 2017

they know he's a bloviating gasbag, but he's a bloviating gasbag with The Button. I suspect every news organization even has extra, dummy accounts just to follow the SCROTUS.




PS: Welcome to DU, kytngirl !

 

jodymarie aimee

(3,975 posts)
5. July 2015, right after he entered politics...
Mon Mar 20, 2017, 01:27 PM
Mar 2017

I googled "something odd trump's facebook followers"..brought up business insider.com and it said he paid Malaysians and Fillipinos $400 a month to comment and like. I alerted Rachel and Lawrence and nobody paid any attention. None of these people are real. If I comment on Scott Walker's page, immediately there are emails in my inbox....with Trump never anything. He pays them..I have no experience with the Twitter. The man has lied all his life...why should this be any different...

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