59. Bot Farms Have Made Social Media Engagement Metrics Meaningless, with Eric Schwartzman

Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories · May 28, 2025 · 33m

What you see online is not real.

This has long been a reliable axiom for information consumption on the internet.

But social media and SEO marketers have long relied on their engagement metrics as an exception to that rule—critical quantitative data that can't be faked and can be leveraged to demonstrate the value of a campaign or piece of content.

Except in 2025, it's just not reliable any more.

That is because sophisticated operations called "bot farms" have built swarms of networked smart phones designed to mimic the organic engagement that drives social media algorithms.

At a command…