image source

I'm about to talk about something that I don't believe I have an actual answer on, but have been thinking about this morning.

Is it worth it to put effort into growing a following on Twitter for solely marketing purposes if half of the users within the subject niche could be bots?

I came across this article from NPR (and don't get me wrong, there may be more trustworthy sources, but this article sparked a lot of talk and controversy a few years back) about how half of the accounts discussing coronavirus on Twitter were bots.

The article references a study that was done by Carnegie Melon University that determined that 45% of the tweets they found about coronavirus during January 2020 were written by accounts that "behaved more like computerized robots than humans".

Marketing Implications

So I will concede that my thought is more of a thought experiment than a scientific one. Just because half of the tweets from Coronavirus on that given month were from bots, does not mean that it holds true for other hashtags or topic niches. At the same time, why don't you go and run your own experiment and tweet something with #NFT or #NFTPROJECT in it? Within 30 seconds you will surely get notifications that some accounts want you to dm them to promote your project... The point is that this research appears to be pretty reflective of the climate in popular categories on the site.

Well if half of the accounts are bots, then is your marketing within a specific tag worth your time or falling on deaf ears? If half of the traffic within your tag is being autogenerated, it can be assumed that these bots are not the most sophisticated and are likely only reading the tags that you include rather than your content. Sure your marketing is hitting the other 50% (that is if you aren't shadowbanned by the algorithm), but is that worth your time or is it inefficient? I suppose it all comes down to whether or not there is an alternative that would better serve your purposes; once again, I don't have the answers here, I am just putting some thoughts into the ether.

Moral Implications

A little look at the moral implications of bots clogging up half the traffic is that you really aren't able to decipher what is real thought or opinion and what is a bot pushing forward a coded agenda in perfect harmony with the algorithm.

It would be foolish to code a bot that doesn't keep in mind the structure of Twitter's algorithm, so it can be assumed that the bots that are finding their way onto your feed usually know what they are doing.

It just sucks knowing that half of the information that we consume on popular topics may be created by bots and may not be organic or useful in thought structure. It provides the need to constantly question the intentions of the author, which I suppose is something you should be doing anyways, but it just adds another layer of deception.

There are of course many positive uses for bots, but not knowing who is who is a dangerous game to play online.

I like to use Twitter for what it was always intended to do. Make you laugh at ridiculous videos, roasts, hot takes and jokes. I have used Twitter for marketing purposes and just haven't felt the enjoyment from it that I felt back in 2016 when everyone was a savage and jokes were flying from everywhere. There are still a ton of positives, but there is just so much noise now, be confident in yourself and don't trust every single thing that you read.

Come talk basketball on web 3.0

Come talk comedy on PeakD community - Com3dy Central

Links and Connections:
Join me on Splinterlands exploring blockchain gaming
Get paid for your search results with Presearch
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @ Rob_Minnick23
Hive: @ rob23
NEW TRIBE: @dunksocial
Join me on Torum
Check out Cake DeFi for staking rewards
Bitcoin Cash Apps: @ rob23
Join me on Publish0x to talk crypto

Who I am:
My name is Rob and I am a prospective law student with interests in cryptocurrency and blockchain. I have enjoyed my time thus far engaging with Web 3.0 and am looking to continue learning more and sharing what I learn through my experience