Dharma Detective, here. Your one and only source into the superficial lives of yoga’s so-called elite. Today we expose the seedy, tweety underbelly of Twitter’s yoga community. Hold onto your birds, it’s going to be a bumpy flight.
They spout love and light, truth and clarity, quotations worthy of a saint. Fawners, fans, and thousands of followers. But your favorite Yoga Guru may instead be nothing more than a big Faker. News Flash: many big-name practitioners may have PURCHASED their following, or at least a large chunk thereof.
We asked ourselves:
– Would a true teacher stuff the ballot box?
– What does buying image inflation say about a person’s ethics and intentions?
– Can an individual who is so desperate to appear influential they’ll resort to dishonesty be trusted to lead others?
If you’re ready to have the veil lifted, we are placing the golden tool in your prayer-posed hands. Truths are revealed in mere seconds with StatusPeople’s Fake Follower Check tool.
Social media masters and fake-hunters have known of this service and utilized its rooting-out capabilities since inception. They’ve scoffed and shaken their heads at the sheer ego of it all. Where’s the integrity, Justin Beiber?
Featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, and The Huffington Post, StatusPeople created the tool for two reasons: one, validating a real and active follower base and two, legitimacy. In their words, “…there are a growing number of Fakers out there. People who buy followers in a vain attempt to build legitimacy. They are essentially trying to game the system and it’s important for you to be able to spot them and steer clear of them. Because ultimately if you’re willing to lie about how many friends you have, you are not a very trustworthy individual.”
StatusPeople asserts that 97% of Twitter accounts tested reflect accurate results. For accounts with 100,000 followers or more, these may be slightly less accurate, yet still in the realm of verity.
It’s important to note, a relatively small percentage of fake followers can be attributed to spammers and bots who’ve added you without your knowledge. However, when your fake score tops 15%, something is very rotten in Denmark, er Yogaville.
A few examples of remarkably high Faker Scores (documented 4.28.2013):
@deepakchopra – 33% fake
@kinomacgregor – 18% fake
And the grotesquely high Faker Scores of a few wanna-be-queen-bee yoga teachers:
@beebosnak – 84% fake
@btruyoga – 80% fake
Ugh. Dirty dealing. Attempting to buy influence does not a true teacher make. It simply teaches what not to do and who not to trust.
How about your teacher? Tested and proven fake? Don’t let’s be heartbroken. Find yourself a new guru. Self is often the best teacher…unless, of course, you bought your Twitter followers.*
For the sake of fairness, a run through the faker filter was done for @yogadork, which yielded 4% fake accounts. Try your own.
(*YD has never purchased any twitter followers and never will.)
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Earlier…
The result of misguided brands who believe quantity of followers is more important than quality and engagement…
I’d be interested in seeing a list of your must-follow yogis on Twitter. The ones who do more than RT empty, inspirational platitudes or spam followers with endless tweets about their class schedule. Yogis with authenticity! Yogis with a sense of humor! Pretty please?
i’d like to see this list too. the empty, inspirational quotes do not add anything to my twitter feed.
Hi 😉
Me too! Those who interact with their followers…
Real yoga teachers don’t even tweet.
The ego.
Yoga Brands: @lululemon 26%, @JadeYoga 9%, @MandukaYoga 6%, @prAna 5%, @lolewomen 4%, @Gaiam 4%, @Yoga_Journal, @lucyactivewear 3%, @bepresentinc 3% , @yogitoes 3%
One thing that turns me off is when you see that obsessive self promoters obsessively quoting their stats for you: “200,000 views!”. OK sure if it’s a legs behind head pose and you’re in short shorts we know why a lot of those views happen. And does this have anything to do with spreading enlightenment rather than feeding a voracious ego?