Buying your way to status on social networks has become standard practice. From Instagram likes to Twitter followers, there’s a growing number of services that promise to bump up your numbers. And they’re quite affordable!

What used to be completely frowned upon, is now, effectively considered an act of social media optimization. Just like choosing the right keywords when optimizing for Google search, can the purchasing of fake followers or likes boost one’s standing in social networks?

That was the main question I set to explore when I decided to take the plunge and buy followers.