Do you want to know if your Twitter followers are real or fake?

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If you have a Twitter account that you are using for personal or business purposes, the chances are that you have a percentage of fake Twitter followers. Wouldn't it be nice to know what percentage of your followers are real or fake? Obviously, the goal is to keep the fake Twitter followers to a minimum because if you have too many they can damage your brand's reputation, in other words, you may become known for having purchased your followers. Sometimes brands will purchase followers to showcase that they have it 'going on' when in reality, most purchased followers are fake and easily identified as such by those that have been around for a while. Not only are purchased followers usually fake but, after a period of inactivity, Twitter will turn those accounts off and you will be back to where you started. I have seen people lose 30 thousand followers overnight. They were not real followers but purchased followers, obviously. I would encourage you to NOT go down this road. 

A few other downsides to fake followers is that they can decrease your engagement and increase the amount of spam in your newsfeed. The reality is that you are not going to connect and engage with a 'fake' follower. Today's social media currency is real connections with real people. Take the time to build a quality, niche targeted, Twitter following and you will never be sorry you did it the right way!

Fake followers are not just a result of bought followers. You can actually get fake followers in other ways as well. You may be asking yourself, how do I identify if I have fake followers? I want to share two websites that help you identify the percentage of fake followers that your Twitter account may have. 

The first one that I want to share with you just launched today, December 6, 2012. It is a new product that was released by Social Bakers. Follow the link and if you put in your @twitterusername; for example @kimgarst, click the CHECK button and Social Baker's new tool will tell you the percentage of fake, inactive and good Twitter followers for your Twitter account.

You can also check other Twitter users accounts if you are curious as to how many fake followers they may have.

The second service that showcases fake followers is provided by Status People. Similiar to Social Bakers, you input your @twitterusername and you can view the percentage of fake, inactive and good followers.

How accurate are these services? It's difficult to really know but the differences between the two services are very similar for me. Unfortunately, neither service names names but it is a great way to see the quality of your Twitter followers. 

What is your percentage of fake followers? I would love to know! Leave me a comment below.