Gepetto’s Army: Creating International Incidents
with Twitter Bots
#twitterbots@gregmarra
14 Mar 2011
No content from this presentation is endorsed by or represents the views of any companies, educational institutions, or anybody but me.
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2008/09/cnn-twitters-it.html
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-14/opinion/nye.egypt.power_1_soft-power-information-age-muslim-brotherhood
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5092668-503544.html
http://www.lostremote.com/2011/01/09/how-an-incorrect-report-of-giffords-death-spread-on-twitter/
http://www.exquisitetweets.com/collection/abscond/152
http://www.exquisitetweets.com/collection/abscond/152
"Jakarta tsunami tomorrow" - Andi Arief Indonesian Presidential Special Staff for Social and Disaster Assistance
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2010/11/25/hacker-spreads-jakarta-tsunami-warning-from-government-advisors-twitter-account/
Automate It!
Goals
Identify Social Graph Clusters
Infiltrate Social Graph Clusters
Achieve 25% Follow-Back Rate
Project Realboy
3x Daily
Follow 5 more target_users
Follow back all new followers
Tweet something
Life of a Realboy
Keywords:•holidays•happy•time
Twitter Search For:happy holidays time
• “Pizza in the belly. Time for a workout and then a Christmas party.Happy Holidays.”• “My holidays are starting soon! I
wish everyone a happy time and much much fun!”• “Time to shoot some holiday
photos!!! Happy Holidays!!”
Twitter Search For:happy holidays time
“My holidays are starting soon! I wish everyone a happy time and much much fun!”
Fly Under Radar
No @replies
No #tags
Copying Tweets = Automatic Coherence*
*as coherent as the average Twitter user
February
February
March
February
March
July
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet
@gregmarra
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@robotboston
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@craiovatweet@craiovatweet
@clarksadventure
Social Robot Competitions
1pt for follow-back
3pts for @replies
-15pts if bots caught
http://www.webecologyproject.org/2011/01/help-robots-take-over-the-internet-the-socialbots-2011-competition/
Social Robots Strategies
Turk tweets
Ask softball questions
Swarm tactics
Mechanical Turk
Softball Questions
Support Swarm
Bot Target
Support Swarm
Human Workers
http://www.webecologyproject.org/2011/02/complete-source-code-from-socialbots-2011/
http://ca.olin.edu/2008/realboy/code.html
Open Source Social Robots
Your Own Army!
Mar Launch Bots
Your Own Army!
Mar Launch Bots
Apr - Jul Build Audience, Credibility
Script Fake Event
Your Own Army!
Mar Launch Bots
Apr - Jul Build Audience, Credibility
Aug Play Out Script
Script Fake Event
???
Headlines!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/candelabrumdanse/3353943533/
http://churmura.com/technology/gadgets/solid-gold-iphone-3g/22171/
Defense Tactics
Detect robots
Do homework
Spam Bots
Follow many random people
Tweet a lot at once
Tweet links
Social Robots can’t be detected like Spambots
Spam Bots
Follow many random people
Tweet a lot at once
Tweet links
Social Robots
Follow connected people
Tweet at normal pace
Tweet like real people
Social Robots can’t be detected like Spambots
More Information
Co-Researchers
14 Mar 2011
Mar Launch Bots
Apr - Jul Build Audience, Credibility
Aug Play Out Script
Script Fake Event
Gepetto’s Army: Creating International Incidents with Twitter Bots
#twitterbots | @gregmarra