[Shaun]

71% of Lady Gaga's 29 million Twitter followers could be fake, according to reports.

The 'Born This Way' superstar made social networking history in March of this year when she became the first public figure to gather 20 million followers on the site, while marketing experts also claimed that the singer made $30 million (£18.9 million) via the service.

However, a study by social media company Status People has suggested that nearly three quarters of Gaga's followers are not real but are instead either inactive or have been created by spamming computers known as "bots".

Status People's research tool separates Twitter followers into three categories – fake, inactive and good - with company executive Rob Waller explaining to the Guardian: "A fake account is set up to follow people or send out spam. They normally have no followers, but follow large numbers of people.

"An inactive account is one in which there has been no activity for a while. They could be real people, but we would describe them as consumers of information rather than sharers of information," he added. "A good account is everything that remains."

The New York Times, meanwhile, also states that Twitter followers can be purchased online to boost a public figure or company's popularity, Although there is no evidence to suggest that Gaga purchased large swathes of her followers, Status People's research showed that out of the singer's last 100,000 followers, only 29 per cent were considered to fall into the "good" category.

however:

Quality reporting as usual.
This article makes it seem like the issue is exclusive to Lady Gaga. You omit to explain that the same report showed that this phenomenon was common across all high-profile accounts on Twitter. To wit:

Stephen Fry 36%.
David Cameron 37%.
Wayne Rooney 30%.
Ricky Gervais 34%.

So it seems about only 30-40% of the followers of high-profile accounts are 'good' or legitimate. Dare I say that this phenomenon also applies to NME's own account, or is that too bitter a pill to swallow?
But enough of my carping... such quality reporting.