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If You Build It, They May Not Come Just Yet: The Upside to Creating Fake User Accounts

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:37 AM PDT

Last week reddit cofounder Steve Huffmann confessed that when he and Alexis Ohanian first launched the now hugely popular social news site, they created hundreds of fake user accounts to make the site seem more popular than it actually was. They used the “dummy accounts” to submit the type of content they found interesting or compelling, which in turn helped set the tone for reddit and influence the type of community the founders hoped to create. Some of you may be crying foul and accusing reddit of building their website on a “To Catch a Predator”-esque framework, wondering all conspiracy theory-style whether most of the users on the site are legit or if they’re all fakey fake fake. I, on the other hand, think their approach was a smart strategy.

We all know that it’s hard to build a successful website. Of course you need great, unique content that brings something new and compelling to the table, but that’s just half the battle (well, that and knowing). The unfortunate truth of the matter is that great content or a great idea on its own oftentimes isn’t enough. You can’t expect a throng of users to just happen to stumble across your website and proclaim it to be the Next Great Thing; you need a little oomph, a little luck, and a lot of patience. And hell, sometimes you need to fake some shit until the tide turns in your favor.

So reddit built some fake user accounts to help shape their site into what they wanted to build. It made the site look robust and active, which enticed new and curious users to see what all the fuss was about and begin interacting with each other. Eventually the snowflake turned into a snowball that rolled into an avalanche, and the rest is history. Nowadays reddit is one of the most popular sites on the Internet with an astoundingly passionate user base, and it might not have turned out that way without some fake accounts starting things off and creating a tipping point.

There’s a difference, however, in creating some fake accounts to try and get your site off the ground and manufacturing phantom users to gargle your brand’s balls. Most Internet users are wary of 100% positive remarks, so if you’re instructing interns to write multiple glowing reviews about your business or your company, it’s going to look a little fishy. The same goes for a blog that’s full of generically-named commenters who gush about how great the content is or about how they agree with the blogger 100%. Nor should you continue to devote more time on your fake personas than your actual users once you do begin to build a legit audience–this should be an early, short-term strategy should you choose to adopt it. Once you build it and fake it and they do come, go hug your dead dad already instead of grooming the field for a 1,000th time.

What do you think about reddit’s non-sexy Taxicab Confession? Does it surprise you that they created fake profiles at the infancy of their site, or do you think it’s a legitimate strategy for trying to generate a thriving social community?

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