【Love Nonetheless】

My first post on Love NonethelessBotnet got over 480,000 likes.

A new social media-style app offers users the chance to live in a world where millions of adoring followers hang onto their every word. There's just one catch: On Botnet it just so happens that you're the only real person. Oh yeah, and you'd better believe you're famous as hell.

The app, released yesterday, is like a Twitter clone that dispensed with the notion that bots can or should be removed from the platform.

---

You May Also Like

---

---

"Botnet is a social network simulator where you're the only human along with a million bots who are obsessed with you," explains the app's website.

Made by Billy Chasen of turntable.fm fame, Botnet allows anyone bored or curious enough to download it a constant stream of interaction from fake accounts. It's an oddly fascinating experience, and provides insight as to why Elon Musk just can't log the hell off.

Just sharing thoughts with my fans. Credit: screenshot / botnet The wisdom of the crowd. Credit: screenshot / botnet

"This started as a fun thought experiment around how we can use bots for good (considering all the negative uses lately)," Chasen told Mashable over email. "What if there are always people to talk to and share opinions with? Maybe the world would feel less lonely (albeit simulated)."

The app is a mixture of hilarious and unsettling. When a Botnet commenter told me that "Keanu Reeves" would win the New Hampshire primary, I laughed out loud at my desk. That the app might actually make a person feel less lonely? I'm not sure what to make of that.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Botnet is free to download, but it does offer up some tempting in-app purchases. Want to spice up your experience with "Dad bot?" That will be $.99, please.

One dadbot please. Credit: screenshot / botnet The loading page. Credit: screenshot / botnet

"This feels a bit more like an art project than actual company," Chasen wrote, "but we'll see where it goes."

Notably, Botnet isn't the first fake social media app we've seen. Back in 2017, Binky offered bored users the chance to scroll through endless pages of fake social posts.

"Unlike similar apps such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, Binky won't stress you out or make you hate your friends," read the app's description. "It just keeps your attention where it belongs: on your phone."

Botnet takes this idea one step further, and actually provides feedback to your inane posts.

Importantly, Chasen told Mashable that this isn't the type of weird data grab that we might expect from a real social media company like Facebook.

SEE ALSO: Look at these dumb email accounts Russian trolls made to influence the 2016 election

"Botnet doesn't record what people are posting," he wrote. "There are just some very basic metrics around installs and if people purchase upgrades."

In other words, feel free to go nuts posting to your heart's content. Your millions of Botnet followers will surely thank you.

Topics Apps & Software Social Media

• Science
• Social Good
• Games
• Tech
• Life
• Deals
• Digital Culture
• Shopping

• SpaceX's Starlink satellite launch in pictures
• 8 fun 'Bachelorette' contestants who unfortunately didn't make the final cast
• 'Spider
• 10,000 bitcoin bought 2 pizzas in 2010 — and now it'd be worth $20 million
• Keeping Hope Alive
• Apple and Nokia are friends again
• Sir Roger Moore, legendary James Bond actor, dies at 89
• Woman's $15 'costume jewelry' ring turns out to be worth $450,000
• Best portable power station deal: Save 44% on the Jackery Explorer 100 v2
• Google and the U.N. launch immersive site to explain the Syrian refugee crisis

• Staff Picks: Catharsis, Consumed, Containers,
• The Morning News Roundup for September 15, 2014
• Best smartwatch deal: Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 on sale for $179
• Cardboard, Glue, and Storytelling
• The Well on Spring Street
• Fabulous Prizes Await
• What can — or should — we learn from porn?
• At the Drive
• You Are Quite Unnecessary, Young Man!
• Steve from 'Blue's Clues' returned and fans are coming to terms with growing up

• Every MCU movie villain ranked, from "Iron Man" to "Thunderbolts*"
• Blizzard reveals a semi
• This epic boxing KO will give you a concussion just from watching
• Extremely normal shirt gets an honor roll student banned from graduation
• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 10: Tips to solve 'Connections' #699.
• A bigger threat than WannaCry lurks in the shadows, and there's no easy cure
• 'Pirates of the Caribbean' swims in circles with 'Dead Men Tell No Tales'
• The creepy doll on 'The Bachelorette' is a viable suitor given their low, low standards
• The Baffler’s May Day Round Up
• Justin Trudeau runs past group of prom goers, stops for the ultimate selfie

• How to Squeeze the Most Out of Your iPhone's Battery
• Fixing the 'broken internet' with Amanda Palmer and Patreon
• People are pretending to have 'missing friends' after the Manchester attack
• Apple's new ads are a million miles from 'I'm a Mac and I'm a PC'
• Every MCU movie villain ranked, from "Iron Man" to "Thunderbolts*"
• iPhone 9 leaks are here, whether you're ready or not
• Critics shred new 'Pirates' movie and Johnny Depp's tireless schtick
• Magical soccer field in the middle of nowhere looks straight out of 'Jurassic Park'
• This is the fattest of the extremely fat bears
• Robots could absolutely devastate the retail market