08/08/12
Marketplace Tech Report for Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Episode Teaser Image:
Episode Description:
Mitt Romney is being followed by robots. Seriously. On Twitter. The presumptive GOP nominee recently saw a dramatic spike in his follower count: 116,000 in just one day. Most of those followers, however, are fakes. Twitter is crawling with fake people. Why? Money. And while these bots are mostly harmless, the technology is improving, making it increasingly difficult to tell who's real or who's not.
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
0
Romney's spike in followers makes us ask: What is a person?
A large number "people" on Twitter are just bits of code intent on spamming.
Browse the show calendar
Buzzworthy
Recent comments on our stories..
American Airlines legroom: How much is an inch worth?
Just flew from Seattle to Houston in economy class...not a great experience at 6'3". To quote Rico Gagliano: "We know you have a...
Ryan | Jun 17, 2013 Dollar store deals: The do's and don'ts
I do almost 75% of my grocery shopping at my local dollar store. Given the choice between spending $1 for name brand items such as aluminum foil,...
charon123 | Jun 16, 2013 A part-time career alters life's expectations
I have never before heard a story that so accurately echoed mine. Ironically, just after learning that my last 10 years of school (earning a...
Anonyms | Jun 12, 2013 For companies to grow, they have to sell you more
One of the worst cases of "upselling" I've recently encountered was at my vet. She ran a test before asking if we wanted it for the...
TwoDogMom | Jun 11, 2013
Connect
Submit your Personal Finance Questions to the Getting Personal blog.
BECOME A MARKETPLACE SOURCE!
Join the Public Insight Network and help us
tell the story.
Sign Up Now or browse recent questions from
the Network below.
