[sgtmas2006]

It can, but you can also find some that sell the accounts themselves, allowing you to falsify a network. Think taking accounts and re-purposing them from being a modern, pop-culture following network to one that is tech-oriented, or more obscure. If you're planning on inserting yourself in this method, you really need to be in control of it all yourself. Follow the major people in your industry, with added randomness to remove following some, while adding randomness to extend the network further.

Keeping the network healthy is one of the more interesting topics. Simulating a real network is the biggest thing. It's very easy to embed yourself, unless it is that closed of a network.