Dark underworld of fake Twitter followers

YOU would probably never mention the Pope, Justin Bieber and Coca-Cola in the same breath, but they do have one thing in common - they all Tweet. If you are someone who is anyone, it is quite likely that you have already jumped on the social media bandwagon. The blue bird known as Twitter is one of the most popular and prolific social media networks available and is frequented by users across the globe.

In 2012 alone, there were 2,561,240 users on Twitter in Singapore. That is almost 50 per cent of the population. With such a large chunk of the market represented on the network, companies can ill-afford to neglect such a valuable avenue of customer interaction.

The Internet places quite a bit of importance on the number of followers a Twitter account has. The Pope has nearly three million followers, Coca-Cola has 1.6 million followers, and Justin Bieber has 43 million people following his every Tweet. Their large number of followers gives their Internet presence instant credibility.