Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has paused the purchase process of the social network Twitter until it is clarified if more than 5% of its users are spam accounts. Far from resolving his doubts, Twitter has pointed out that it is difficult to accurately measure the number of accounts that publish this type of content on the social network, which causes even more reluctance in Musk when buying.
Twitter ensures that the percentage of spam in the social network is less than 5%
Especially when reports begin to appear indicating that the percentage of spam accounts on Twitter could not only be 5%, but would be much higher. This is what the GlobalData consultancy affirms, which has developed a mathematical measurement model by which it indicates that the percentage of spam accounts on Twitter could exceed 10%.
According to GlobalData, Twitter’s “official” figures are doubled mainly due to differences in the criteria of what would be considered spam and what would not be considered as such in the social network. This is a discussion that affects all social networks, but according to Sidharth Kumar, Senior Data Scientist at GlobalData, on Twitter it is especially relevant, given the disagreement that Elon Musk has now shown to continue with the acquisition of Twitter.
The definition of what a spam account is is not clear. Even an account that consistently tweets non-original content might be considered spam by some, while others might think that it is an account that shares quality content, despite not having produced it.
Bearing this in mind, it is convenient to know the mathematical estimation model that GlobalData has followed to reach the conclusions of its study. For the consultant, the focus is on the differences in activity between typical spam accounts and the average Twitter user. Those accounts that, in most of the analyzed parameters, have not obtained a high score, are likely to be considered spam.
To reach this conclusion, GlobalData has been discarding the accounts on Twitter taking into account the following:
-Is it a verified account on Twitter? Verified accounts are less likely to be a spam account, as Twitter conducts a rigorous screening process.
-Do you publish through third-party tools? If so, the chances that it is a spam account increase.
-How many tweets have you published since the day of its creation? How many tweets a day do you publish on average?
-How often have the last 200 tweets been published? A higher number of tweets posted repeatedly recently increases the chances of spam.
-Which of them contained a link or hashtag? Spam accounts often promote some external content or
These are some of the variables that GlobalData has taken into account when reaching the conclusion that approximately 10% of Twitter accounts are, in fact, spam.
