Melissa Gorga was slammed by Real Housewives of Dubai star Chanel Ayan over the claim that Melissa has more Instagram followers than sister-in-law Teresa Giudice and Kenya Moore. Chanel then questioned if Melissa paid for them.
As of now, Teresa and Melissa are feuding on Real Housewives of New Jersey, on which Teresa is an OG. Some have questioned how many ‘real’ followers Melissa has, though it’s impossible to get an exact number. As many Bravo fans know, the more followers a Housewife has, the more likely she’ll get endorsement deals. Though Bravo salaries can be high – especially for the long-timers like Teresa and Melissa – most castmates realize they won’t be on the show forever and are looking to monetize social media.
In a post shared by @bravosnarkside on Instagram, Chanel reacted to a comment that Melissa has more Instagram followers than Teresa, Kenya, Heather Dubrow, Tamra Judge, and Erika Jayne.
“She can’t have more followers than Teresa or the Kenya Moore,” wrote Chanel on July 5. “Did she buy them?”
“Sorry not sorry,” Chanel added, seemingly addressing Melissa herself. “Don’t care.”
Indeed, a look at the ladies’ social media pages shows that Melissa has 2.8 million followers compared to Teresa and Kenya who both have 2.3 million followers each.
A past article from The New York Times addressed the practice of bot followers.
“Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people,” stated Rami Essaid, who founded a cybersecuity company specializing in getting rid of bot networks. “You can’t take any tweet at face value. And not everything is what it seems.”
“You see a higher follower count, or a higher retweet count, and you assume this person is important, or this tweet was well received,” commented Rand Fishkin, who founded a company that creates SEO software. “As a result, you might be more likely to amplify it, to share it or to follow that person.”
Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell, who purchased 50,000 followers online, also addressed the situation.
“It’s fraud,” he expressed at the time. “People who judge by how many likes or how many followers, it’s not a healthy thing.”
This, it seems, is especially true when it comes to celebrities, whose incomes are often determined by their follower count.
