Althouse: "On Thursday, we noticed about 1.3 million of Kim Kardashian’s vanished. Rihanna’s decreased by about 1.2 million."

December 19, 2014

"On Thursday, we noticed about 1.3 million of Kim Kardashian’s vanished. Rihanna’s decreased by about 1.2 million."

"Katy Perry’s went down 300,000. Even Oprah lost 100,000."

What did they lose?

Instagram followers. Instagram purged fake accounts — which the celebrities apparently purchased to look more followed. It's like buying votes, except that it doesn't really matter, other than that it makes these people look a little pathetic when we see what they were up to. Only a little though.

34 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Next thing we are going to hear is that Kim Kardashian's body is not real.; 12/19/14, 2:36 PM
Nonapod said...: I've read that something like 46% of all Twitter followers are bots, most of which are bought and paid for by the account holders themselves.; 12/19/14, 2:45 PM
ddh said...: Rotten boroughs.; 12/19/14, 2:48 PM
john said...: john is such a common name that few notice when certain comment threads become populated with seemingly automated responses.; 12/19/14, 2:50 PM
john said...: john is such a common name that few notice when certain comment threads become populated with seemingly automated responses.; 12/19/14, 2:50 PM
MadisonMan said...: There are nevertheless 26+million followers of Kim Kardashian. To which I say: Why?

I have 50some followers.; 12/19/14, 3:00 PM
Balfegor said...: There are nevertheless 26+million followers of Kim Kardashian

Seems like a waste of money to buy bot followers if that's the case . . . Is there a reason bots might be set up to follow popular twitter-ers (what are they called?) as well as the paying customer? Does Twitter have an Amazon-like algorithm that says "people who follow [X] also follow [Y]" and presents the recommendation?; 12/19/14, 3:11 PM
Kevin said...: It's Potemkin Kardashians all the way down!; 12/19/14, 3:14 PM
Moose said...: "...you'll be amazed!"; 12/19/14, 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Virtual Potemkin Villages?

It almost seems like a redundant term.; 12/19/14, 3:30 PM
pm317 said...: followers; 12/19/14, 3:33 PM
Jaq said...: Does Twitter have an Amazon-like algorithm that says "people who follow [X] also follow [Y]" and presents the recommendation?

Yes.; 12/19/14, 4:30 PM
rehajm said...: There are nevertheless 26+million followers of Kim Kardashian. To which I say: Why?

I'm not sure why, though I hope we can stop calling her talentless. her talent is she gets people to look, and there is great value in her talent.; 12/19/14, 4:30 PM
madAsHell said...: stop calling her talentless

I disagree. She has a tremendous publicity machine, and she targets the 14-49 year old female demographic.; 12/19/14, 4:39 PM
The Godfather said...: A nice ass is not a talent? I didn't know.; 12/19/14, 4:46 PM
JackOfClubs said...: Balfegor said...
[...] twitter-ers (what are they called?) 12/19/14, 3:11 PM

I believe they are called twits.; 12/19/14, 5:27 PM
David said...: It's a trick question.

Turns out they lost nothing.; 12/19/14, 5:43 PM
chillblaine said...: Althouse has 5008 twitter followers. Even David Burge follows her. Well, I make that 5009.

I'm not up on instagram. That's like a telegram, right?; 12/19/14, 6:07 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: I'd consider following Kim Kashkashian on Twitter. Kim Kardashian, um, no.

(Kashkashian, for those not in the know, is a violist. A very, very good violist.); 12/19/14, 6:23 PM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
There are nevertheless 26+million followers of Kim Kardashian. To which I say: Why?

I have 50some followers."

To which I say: Why?; 12/19/14, 7:02 PM
Unknown said...: Hopefully, this will not make Kardashian the butt of jokes.; 12/19/14, 7:06 PM
Jaq said...: And in tangentially related news Kim Jong-Un's twitter feed is a hoot.; 12/19/14, 7:30 PM
MadisonMan said...: To which I say: Why?

Because ~50 people -- mostly relatives/neighbors -- care to know what I'm thinking.

Twitter is great to follow high school sport teams, most of which have a twitter feed, usually churned out by parents. Such a news source is much better and more complete than the local paper -- even though all the Sports Writers are also following the twitter feeds.; 12/19/14, 7:32 PM
MadisonMan said...: And in tangentially related news Kim Jong-Un's twitter feed is a hoot.

What a strange collection of feeds he follows!

Greta Van Susteren.
KFC.
Piers Morgan
Rep. Steve Smith.
Yao Ming.
FIFA.
Patrick Stewart.
Buzz Aldrin.
MC Hammer.; 12/19/14, 8:08 PM
Jaq said...: OK, it's a fake, but I found out that North Korea, like the Soviet Union and China are "pseudo-socialist" because, I guess, the "real thing" has never been tried!; 12/19/14, 8:20 PM
Paul said...: It's all fake folks.

Just like Obama's followers.

GRUBERS ALL!; 12/19/14, 8:51 PM
Browndog said...: Somebody noticed Katy Perry, but didn't notice Susan Douglas, from her alma mater.

vanishing...; 12/19/14, 9:59 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/19/14, 10:30 PM
ForestGirl said...: "Celebritneys"? Are those people who are famous but shouldn't be, like Britney Spears?; 12/20/14, 12:03 AM
JAORE said...: Getting paid based on the number of followers. Paying for fake followers. Ain't that fraud? Not that the lives of these folks is not fraught with fraud. Between plastic surgery, air brushing photos and machines to assure your singing is on key, reality left the building with Elvis.; 12/20/14, 1:24 AM
AlanKH said...: I blame North Korea.; 12/20/14, 1:30 AM
tim maguire said...: How many did OFA lose?; 12/20/14, 4:24 AM
Charlie Martin said...: Actually, it matters very much. In real life I'm CTO of a social media company. The number of followers you have, along with the number of followers they have, is called your "reach", and very much like Neilsen ratings, the desirability of a particular individual is dependent on your reach.

A whole bunch of people just lost serious money.; 12/20/14, 5:55 PM
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Kim Kardashian; 3/26/15, 4:02 AM