首页
登录
职称英语
If you think money can’t buy you friends, think again. In the online world,
If you think money can’t buy you friends, think again. In the online world,
游客
2023-11-03
27
管理
问题
If you think money can’t buy you friends, think again. In the online world, it’s possible to purchase a crowd of fans. One thousand cost only $18 on average, according to estimates by Barracuda Networks, a network security company. Yet these friends won’t meet you for drinks after work. In fact, they don’t even exist. They are pixels on a screen.
A large share of social-media followers of the biggest companies are not human, believes Marco Camisani Calzolari, an entrepreneur and professor at Milan’s ILUM University. In a recent study he quantified the proportion of computer-generated fans or inactive users following big brands on Twitter. To decide whether a follower is human, Mr. Camisani Calzolari used various criteria, including the number of posts from a fan’s Twitter account and the use of correct punctuation in tweets. According to this research, by June 2011 nearly half of Twitter followers of computer maker Dell—about 700,000—were bots.
Some politicians also seem to have many fake followers. Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate, became the focus of media attention when his Twitter following swelled by 17% in a single day in July. On close inspection, a significant proportion of Mr. Romney’s followers appeared to be fake profiles. In Italy Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement lost the driving force when Mr. Camisani Calzolari made a similar claim about the followers of the comedian-turned-politician.
There is no indication that any of the companies mentioned in Mr. Camisani Calzolari’s paper have bought followers—rogue bots often attach themselves to people and brands without payment. But some firms do buy a social media following. Fake profiles are at the center of a very vibrant and growing underground economy, says Barracuda Networks. On eBay, the e-commerce site, for instance, the firm’s researchers have found 20 sellers offering to set up such profiles.
For start-ups a strong social media following can boost business. A small mom-and-pop shop struggling to sell its goods can look like a booming upstart thanks to a swollen Twitter account, or an artificially high number of Facebook likes. For major international companies, a small number of followers in the early stages of engagement with social media can be embarrassing at best and damaging to brand perception at worst. Buying crowds of fans—even if they aren’t engaged with the brand—can give an artificial boost to a business.
For now, the trick works. "Normal people don’t know yet that there is this black market. Most have total trust that a brand’s followers are real," says Mr. Camisani Calzolari. But brands are already finding diminishing returns. When everybody has a large following, the impact is much diminished. And consumers are starting to cotton on to sharp practices. "The number of followers is a superficial measurement unless they are engaged," argues Carly Donovan of Ogilvy Action, an arm of Ogilvy & Mather, the advertisement and public relations agency. Money can buy you friends—just not very good ones. [br] The phrase "a swollen Twitter account" in Paragraph 5 refers to a______.
选项
A、Twitter account with bigger online storage space
B、Twitter account with an excess of fake followers
C、Twitter VIP account
D、Twitter special account for business
答案
B
解析
语义题。swollen原意是“肿胀的,鼓起的”,文章第五段第二句表明,一家努力销售其商品的小型夫妻店会看起来像是一个迅速崛起的新贵,这是多亏了a swollen Twitter account或者脸谱网“赞”链接被人为刷高,由此可知swollen指“推特账户里粉丝人数的虚假增长”,所以选[B]“有过量假粉丝的推特账户”。[A]“拥有更大网络存储空间的推特账户”、[C]“推特贵宾账户”和[D]“商业专用推特账户”均不符合文意,故排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3155011.html
相关试题推荐
Ifyouthinkmoneycan’tbuyyoufriends,thinkagain.Intheonlineworld,
Ifyouthinkmoneycan’tbuyyoufriends,thinkagain.Intheonlineworld,
Ifyouthinkmoneycan’tbuyyoufriends,thinkagain.Intheonlineworld,
Ifyouthinkmoneycan’tbuyyoufriends,thinkagain.Intheonlineworld,
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
Mostpeoplewhogoonlinehavemainlypositiveexperience.But,【C1】______a
随机试题
[originaltext](22)“TheTube”begunin1863asdirectresponsetotrafficconges
Name:WangQiangDateofBirth:June12,1960Shanghai,P.R.Sex:Ma
首选用于治疗疮疡阳证的处用药物是A.阳和油膏 B.冲和油膏 C.玉露油膏
HLA基因复合体位于人类的A、第3对染色体的短臂上B、第4对染色体的短臂上C
Thechangeinthatvillagewasmiraculou
A.1年B.2年C.3年D.4年E.5年儿科处方保存
患者,男性,20岁。自述“在天桥上看到火车开过来,就出现想跳下去自杀的念头。”虽
一项经济且有效的信息收集方法,它通过对于工作相关的现有文献进行系统的分析来获取工
按照五级分类方式,不良个人贷款包括五级分类中的()。A.关注、次级和损失类贷款
药品监督管理部门在一次例行检查时发现一诊所购进的药品有一批没有购进记录,该诊所负
最新回复
(
0
)