Yesterday, social media erupted with the news that Instagram has more users, 300 million, than Twitter, which claims 284 million. An impressive number indeed for both platforms, but is it real? The question may be how many real, unique users do these social platforms have and how many are fake. How many are unique individuals and how many are being used by companies as marketing tools for promotion?
In my own household, my children both have Instagram accounts, neither have a Twitter account. I think the picture sharing is the primary appeal for usage. But I have also learned that many teens have multiple accounts and some enjoy the game of creating fake accounts, "Finstas" I believe they are called, as joke accounts. So between these fake accounts, corporate accounts, and other automated programs to falsely drive followers and clicks to sites, how many of these social media accounts are unique and real? 300 million sounds like a lot but what is the real number.
