#TeamFollowBack: Detection & Analysis of Follow Back Accounts on Social Media

Tu\u{g}rulcan Elmas, Mathis Randl, Youssef Attia
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.15856 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.15856

arXiv:2403.15856v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Follow back accounts inflate their follower counts by engaging in reciprocal followings. Such accounts manipulate the public and the algorithms by appearing more popular than they really are. Despite their potential harm, no studies have analyzed such accounts at scale. In this study, we present the first large-scale analysis of follow back accounts. We formally define follow back accounts and employ a honeypot approach to collect a dataset of such accounts on X (formerly Twitter). We discover and describe 12 communities of follow back accounts from 12 different countries, some of which exhibit clear political agenda. We analyze the characteristics of follow back accounts and report that they are newer, more engaging, and have more followings and followers. Finally, we propose a classifier for such accounts and report that models employing profile metadata and the ego network demonstrate promising results, although achieving high recall is challenging. Our study enhances understanding of the follow back accounts and discovering such accounts in the wild.

@Natasha_Jay

Yeah

I've had one of those follow and unfollow and re-follow me three times now

Think he's fishing for a #TeamFollowback deal

Here's my Notes on that account:

"FinSpam? Second Follow in nine days. Team Followback? And Followed again 01/03"

Oh

From Mastodon dot Social

No surprise there...

I was there when the old blue bird started. When you tweeted via text message, and most people outside of tech didn't "get it". I saw it start to crumble and fester.

Mastodon is finally feeling like old Twitter. I think it's a combo of the right app, the right server, and the right content creators.

I'm looking for more people to follow and followers to engage with. #TeamFollowBack

On Mastodon, I am way more likely to follow back than I was at Twitter. I do it to almost everybody, reflexively.

I was always skeptical of #TeamFollowBack over there. Still am. Who I follow informs the timeline I get. And a follow isn’t a contract. It’s like the legal boilerplate corporations insert in email—that isn’t binding. You sending me a message doesn’t create a contract.

But still. People here are great, and I’m learning who’s who and what’s what, so for now, I’m Johnny #FollowBack.

*Require Follow Requests Setting*

Hi All,

#TeamFollowBack

Just a quick reminder to check your settings to allow for Follows. When this option is unticked, when someone follows you, you will be automatically followed.

This does allow you to vet your followers.

Hi All, this is your reminder that If you follow i will follow back #TeamFollowBack :D

Just remember to check your Settings for automated acceptance of follows.

if the box is ticked you have to manually go in to accept each follower.

ok?
Good

As you were