A new report says 15 percent of the followers that Romney has on Twitter are fake. That's over 100,000 fake accounts that he paid for to follow him on Twitter.
I discovered this from this article on arstechnica.com, which references a report from security firm Barracuda Labs. Neither of these sites are inherently political sites.
I know this is standard operation procedure for companies trying to build a real following on Twitter, but it just reinforces the empty suit persona that Romney seems to be keen on presenting. A local weekly here in Seattle recently published a great article "The Man Without Qualities", basically outlining the fact that Romney has no actual supporters. Here's a taste of this article:
I have looked far and wide, halfway across this country and back, and I have not found a human being who is genuinely fond of Romney and believes that, based on the strength of his character, he would make a great president. I'm not talking about an anti-Obama Republican; there are plenty of people who will vote for Romney because he's not Barack Obama. But I have not talked with one person who will vote for Mitt Romney because he's Mitt Romney. And I've tried. E-mails and phone calls to prospective Romney fans went unanswered. Google searches were fruitless. Hell, even our state's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rob McKenna, hasn't made a public appearance with Romney.
This has been pointed out before: Republican support behind Romney, the candidate running against Obama, is strong, but Republican support of Willard Mitt Romney, the alleged human being, is practically nonexistent.
That Romney buys fake followers to simulate actual popularity is the perfect metaphor for everything that Romney has shown:
* Followers can be bought
* People (or simulations thereof) are means to an end
* Facade is more important than substance
Though Romney has done many things that are many times worse than this, I always like it when someone gets busted for faking it 'til making it.
What next? Mannequins in seats to make his speeches seem well attended?