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

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, these bot farms can create a cascade of authentic-seeming engagement that's nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, catapulting selected posts to the top of social media feeds. International state actors can wage propaganda wars. Financial influencers can pump up the value of assets they hold. And, more and more, global brands can leverage bot activity to drive their messaging to the top of feeds, manufacture social proof, and astro-turf the impression of favorability. So in this episode, we're talking to digital PR expert Eric Schwartzman, whose firm helps clients with brand management, reputation monitoring, crisis management, and corporate communications. He also recently published an expose for Fast Company on the rise of bot farms and its implications. Together, we'll learn how bot farmers manipulate the algorithm, what means are available to detect inauthentic activity, and why social media networks are slow to react. Plus, we'll explore the moral quandary that social media and SEO marketers increasingly face in this brave new world: If everyone else is using bots to drive engagement... should you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices