I assume its mostly the prepopulated follow lists so every time someone tries one of those apps, those followings grow. So not fake, just a lot of churn. But also, after spending a stupid amount of time trying to find interesting people in my own list, I came to the conclusion that at least 25-30% of my followers are follow-bots of one form or another. I doubt that percentage directly scales but I'm sure big profiles picked up more by count during those waves than some nobody talking to the wind. Just another reason to disregard it. Interaction is still the closest thing to proof of life so far. I don't think that's bad.