August 28, 2012 16:16

71% of Lady Gaga's 29 million Twitter followers are fake, say reports

'Born This Way' singer may not have as many Little Monsters as she thought...

Photo Gallery: Lady Gaga
Photo: PA

71% of Lady Gaga's 29 million Twitter followers could be fake, according to reports.

The 'Born This Way' superstar made social networking history in March of this year when she became the first public figure to gather 20 million followers on the site, while marketing experts also claimed that the singer made $30 million (£18.9 million) via the service.

However, a study by social media company Status People has suggested that nearly three quarters of Gaga's followers are not real but are instead either inactive or have been created by spamming computers known as "bots".

Status People's research tool separates Twitter followers into three categories – fake, inactive and good - with company executive Rob Waller explaining to the Guardian: "A fake account is set up to follow people or send out spam. They normally have no followers, but follow large numbers of people.

"An inactive account is one in which there has been no activity for a while. They could be real people, but we would describe them as consumers of information rather than sharers of information," he added. "A good account is everything that remains."

The New York Times, meanwhile, also states that Twitter followers can be purchased online to boost a public figure or company's popularity, Although there is no evidence to suggest that Gaga purchased large swathes of her followers, Status People's research showed that out of the singer's last 100,000 followers, only 29 per cent were considered to fall into the "good" category.

Lady Gaga will release her new album, 'ARTPOP', in early 2013. Yesterday (August 27), it was reported that she has been recording vocals for the album while naked in the studio because she believes it makes her voice sound better.

She is currently in the middle of her 'Born This Way' ball world tour, which features 110 dates in all. The tour's European leg will make its way to the UK for a pair of dates at Twickenham on September 8 and 9 and a third show at the Manchester Arena on September 11.

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