Titters over Chargers' Twitter numbers

“The Chargers almost doubled Twitter followers since L.A. move, but 45 percent of total are now fake.”

That’s the headliine in thebiglead, a sports site that is owned by USA Today. Ryan Phillips says that the Chargers had less than 500,000 followers when they left San Diego. Now they boast of 805,000.

Don’t believe it, says Phillips. ”Of the Chargers’ reportedly 805,000 followers, TwitterAudit claims 359,611 are fake. That’s roughly 55 percent that are real, just over half.” Phillips notes that the Chargers “have virtually no fans in L.A. given the fact that they can’t find 27,000 of their own fans to fill the StubHub Center.”

The clincher: “The Los Angeles Rams — you know, the team people actually wanted in L.A. — only have 733,000 followers. The Chargers, who no one wanted, are outpacing them by 52,000. That premise alone is ridiculous."