In the past two days I've gained about 15 new followers. Since I've been here 2-1/2 years and previously have never had more than 100 followers, I'd like to think that all of a sudden I've been "discovered." But virtually all of the new followers have just joined HP a few minutes before following me, they have zero hubs, and judging from their names, (most) seem to be commercial accounts.
Is anyone else experiencing this? Should I be worried about it?
Unfortunately, you can't stop people from following you on HubPages; you only control following people back.
I would advise you to regularly check your content for plagiarism. One of my followers on HP has plagiarized my work and is still allowed to have an account on this website.
Yeah, they're spammers of some sort. They end up leaving you spammy fan mail too. It's weird to see one of these accounts, they are following one person... and that one person is you. I don't know how it works, but it is a bit disconcerting.
Yes, I've gotten some odd fan mail from these new followers and a couple of comments, too. I usually like to approve any comment I get, but these exhibited no clue that the commenter had read, or even skimmed, the hubs.
I would agree with the others but add that if their profile looks 'suspicious' go ahead and click the Flag button on their profile and let HP staff work out if they are 'spammers'
No. You can be penalized for following too many people, but not because of who follows you.
How many is too many?? LOL! I follow a lot of Hubbers, but I don't go around just randomly following every name I see pop up.
Dozens in one day can get you flagged as a potential spammer.
So what's going on with this? A new batch of followers every few hours. In the past 2-3 days I've gone from about 100 followers (after 2-1/2 years) to 133 as of a few minutes ago. Hallelujah, right? My great hubs are finally being discovered!
I don't think so. Nine out of ten of the new followers seem to be businesses. Their profiles are essentially business sales pitches, including a complete address and phone number. They have zero hubs. When I check their activity on their profile pages, they're just following people, one after the other. And it seems like it always starts with the same group of about six hubbers, of which, for some reason, I'm one.
I know I can't prevent anyone from following me, and of course I'm happy to expand my audience, if they are legitimate hubbers and they are actually an "audience." But these followers are coming fast and furious, and it doesn't look legitimate to me.
You can report them from the top right of their profile page. (Keep an eye on your Hubs for content theft.)
I did report one that looked obviously spammy, and one was banned before I had a chance to check him out. But I've been reluctant to report most of them because I've been thinking that maybe they've published a hub or two but the hubs don't show up on their profile page because they haven't yet been "featured."
You can also check their Profile page and see if they are rapidly following many people. If they are and they have no Hubs, I think you should report them.
(I followed you yesterday!)
Yes, that seems to be what most of them are doing, and I'm inclined to agree. I'll check back on some of them in a day or two and report them if the pattern continues.
Thanks for the (legitimate!) follow! I followed you in return and I look forward to reading your hubs, especially those on SEO.
by Rahul Pandey 12 months ago
I'm a new joinee. Admiteddly, a little overwhelmed. If you guys are already over there, help me find you.Also, any tips to get started would be welcome.While I've published a story, it has failed to gain any traction thus far.It seems that there are in-house publications I need to aim for. I don't...
by Renee S 14 years ago
Thank you for following my hubs everyone. I do appreciate each and every one of you!
by ross670daw 12 years ago
I've been hovering around the 92 to 97 mark of followers for about 8 months now. I realize I haven't published a new hub in a while, been very busy offline and not been able to spend much time on Hubpages, no excuse I know. I'm back now, did you miss me? What, who's he? If it's appropriate, I...
by Jeremy Gill 6 years ago
In the past few days, I got my 100th follower and finally attained 1 million views! It's been hectic writing while also working part-time and being a full-time student, but it's crazy to think so many people have read my silly articles. Here's to many more years.
by pinkylee 14 years ago
congratulations hun this is a big accomplishment
by CASE1WORKER 13 years ago
Its bed time- been out and had the largesst half of the bottle. Come home and there I am with 99 followers. the question is will there be 100 when this semi hung over mother gets up in the morning? Will i always be 99 not out? we wil seea big thankyou to those who have decided to follow and leave...
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