Is this you?

Or how about this person?

Or this?

 If the answer is No, then why do want to be my friend on Facebook or follow you on Twitter?

My dear social media friends, these profiles pictures – the first two from Facebook – and the last from Twitter – are placeholder profile photos representing the account. They are generic and do not represent anything other than showing you the spot where your profile photo will be inserted.

If you are asked to follow one of the above and you don’t recognize the name, then you can assume that 99.9% of the time these are “fake” accounts. In fact, these are the “laziest” of the fake accounts, because the majority of “fake” accounts do at least spend one minute’s time to upload a profile photo. Whoever made these accounts has spent no time at all on them and they scream DO NOT FRIEND OR FOLLOW ME – I’M NOT REAL.

SOCIAL MEDIA FAKERS

When I am asked to follow a person on Twitter with an egg photo or friend someone who does show a respectable image, I don’t accept them and suspect that they are fakers.  However, there is an exception to this practice.

I have a relative who is not tech savvy, but she wanted to follow the Facebook messages of her family. Therefore, when I received her request to become her friend I accepted, even though, she still has the generic woman’s Facebook profile photo as her main shot. The next time I’m with her, I’ll be sure to help her learn a few more basic Facebook skills and replace that photo. But, she’s the only one that I have as a friend, that I know of, that uses that generic photo.

RELATIONSHIPS

Empty calories taste good at the start, but afterward do nothing for you.

Social media is about relationships. So how can you relate to someone who really isn’t a human being. Even if you are trying to grow your numbers adding these fakers is like “empty calories.” Empty calories do nothing for you and if anyone ever looked under your social media hood, they would notice your community contains a substancial amount of non-real people who in turn can’t go out and buy products or promote a thing!

OTHER TELL-TALE SIGNS

Besides these profile photos, you can suss out Facebook “fakes” by the number of people they friend up or how lengthy the “about” section is. Most fakers don’t spend much time writing out tidbits about themselves. Again, that takes too much time. You can also look at when they joined for that will tell you how active they have been. If they have a large amount friends in a short period…that’s a red flag. And if they have a gorgeous looking female image and only male friends…that’s another sign of a “fake.”

I’ll go into this subject a bit deeper in the coming weeks…so stay tuned for most interesting facts about “fakes” soon. In the meantime, what are your thoughts about fake accounts? I’d love to hear.

That's me!

I can guarantee you that if I follow or friend you, I’m 100% real. If you see my headshot to the left then its me. If not, then it could be someone pretending to be me and that’s an entirely different topic of discussion I plan to cover. Thanks for reading my work and feel free to share it or pin it. -Cindy