Musk warns X accounts on engagement farming, threatens suspension

Elon Musk, CEO of X (formally Twitter), warned on about indulging in engagement farming and threatened them of suspension if corrective action is not taken.

In a post on X, Musk wrote, "Any accounts doing engagement farming will be suspended and traced to source."

The post generated immense response and many users hailed Musk's latest announcement.

"If this means suspending accounts that consistently reply to large accounts spamming unrelated content, that would be amazing! I miss when replies were in response to the original post," wrote one user.  

"THIS is what we’ve all been waiting for. Thank you," wrote another.

Musk's post also generated a lot of questions among many users about engagement farming.  

What is engagement farming

In simple terms, engagement farming is when one wants to get more engagement on social media platforms.

For example, this can be done by participating in multiple Twitter spaces at once, without adding any specific value, but only to pump one’s bag.

The method is used extensively by users to get more followers, likes, comments, and retweets on social media platforms and grow their personal brand.

Who are the users

It's a common practice among influencers to join groups, consisting (usually) of up-and-coming influencers, to engage with each other's content in a reciprocal manner. Whenever one member of the group publishes a post, they share it via messaging services like Instagram DMs or Whatsapp, and other members are expected to like and comment on the post in return. They do it because as it a fantastic way to create the illusion of a highly engaged audience and also to try and trick the algorithm.

It also presents them as attractive potential partners for brands making their content resonate with the audience when in reality it’s just being propped up by their group members.

Why it is under scanner

First, the audience of an engagement farming is just the members of a same group, which makes it unlikely to add any substantial value to a post or a product on offer.

Second, the algorithm has also become better at identifying the pattern and penalise posts and creators it believes are part of these groups.

Third and the last, it doesn’t change the intrinsic value of the content. A post can pop up due to the volume due to engagement from the group members, but if the content itself isn’t compelling it will be ignored.