It’s a conundrum. People do judge based on number of followers,on the other hand, number of follows don’t matter, but likes and comments and eventually those turned into clients.
On most platform, I cap my following list. Throughout the year, I'll find creators that I am following but avoiding & do a purge. I'll go to their content list & see how much recent content I'm still interested in consuming. Often they'll get on a topic I like which solicited the follow, but then they move on to topics I don't like. Purged. If they only had the one video I liked? Purged. They were fun & unique, but it's gotten stale or annoying: Purged. They start posting 5x / day instead of weekly: Purged. My YT list is ~30 & likely will get purged soon. Substack is at 5-10. I recently did a purge when it was getting close to 30. I've had the same 12 podcasts for 2 years.
There IS a cost to follow someone: time & mental energy. You can't read or watch everything. Every creator on your "Following" list takes up screen real estate & demands your attention. It takes time to even read the headline & decide "Do I want to read more?" Every decision is a drain on your mental energy.
Do It!
Purge your following list to what u actually value & see how much more time & mental energy u have for the rest of the day.
Reading is much more time & mental energy intensive compared to Tweets, images, videos, or audio content. I listen to my podcasts WHILE driving. I watch YT WHILE chilling, relaxing before sleep. You can't read half-asleep or while driving or otherwise distracted. This gives a natural limit to how many can be consumed.
I'm actually one of those weird people who cleans up her lists all the time 😅 if I haven't watched the last ten videos of a YouTuber I unsubscribe, if the last couple newsletters weren't my cup of tea I unsubscribe. I know that if there's something they put out that really interests me, the algorithm will put it in front of me again and then I might subscribe again. I'm weird like that 🤷♀️. That being said I do agree with what you say about not getting too hung up on the numbers, for me genuine engagement matters so much more.
I agree with your assessment that followers are a "vanity" metric for most parts.
The only exception I have found is when the social platform offers incentives to gain followers, as Medium did with its referral bonus program in August 2021. Authors earned a referral bonus for each paid member they managed to sign up as a follower.
You can see the difference clearly when comparing top authors, and I have more details and statistics in this story:
Very wise words
Followers are just a social vanity metric
No correlation with revenue whatsoever
It goes back to the human desire of “being approved”
You don’t need approval from an army of anons on the internet
And no correlation with engaged readers either.
It’s a conundrum. People do judge based on number of followers,on the other hand, number of follows don’t matter, but likes and comments and eventually those turned into clients.
At this point, for me it isn't. If you do what attracts engaged readers, you also attract followers.
Thank you, Alberto. I am still taking baby steps on Substack. I appreciate your comments on looking beyond a person's number of followers.
On most platform, I cap my following list. Throughout the year, I'll find creators that I am following but avoiding & do a purge. I'll go to their content list & see how much recent content I'm still interested in consuming. Often they'll get on a topic I like which solicited the follow, but then they move on to topics I don't like. Purged. If they only had the one video I liked? Purged. They were fun & unique, but it's gotten stale or annoying: Purged. They start posting 5x / day instead of weekly: Purged. My YT list is ~30 & likely will get purged soon. Substack is at 5-10. I recently did a purge when it was getting close to 30. I've had the same 12 podcasts for 2 years.
There IS a cost to follow someone: time & mental energy. You can't read or watch everything. Every creator on your "Following" list takes up screen real estate & demands your attention. It takes time to even read the headline & decide "Do I want to read more?" Every decision is a drain on your mental energy.
Do It!
Purge your following list to what u actually value & see how much more time & mental energy u have for the rest of the day.
Only 5-10?
Reading is much more time & mental energy intensive compared to Tweets, images, videos, or audio content. I listen to my podcasts WHILE driving. I watch YT WHILE chilling, relaxing before sleep. You can't read half-asleep or while driving or otherwise distracted. This gives a natural limit to how many can be consumed.
You are right...
But some substacks have podcasts.
Albert, I keep telling myself to ignore all that and focus on writing, publishing and engaging.
Then, monetizing the Substack audience will naturally occur.
That is, well-placed call to actions with juicy giveaways are required with nets that nurture and massage.
I'm actually one of those weird people who cleans up her lists all the time 😅 if I haven't watched the last ten videos of a YouTuber I unsubscribe, if the last couple newsletters weren't my cup of tea I unsubscribe. I know that if there's something they put out that really interests me, the algorithm will put it in front of me again and then I might subscribe again. I'm weird like that 🤷♀️. That being said I do agree with what you say about not getting too hung up on the numbers, for me genuine engagement matters so much more.
Agreed. That’s one of the counts that don’t really count in the grand scheme of things.
Hi Alberto,
I agree with your assessment that followers are a "vanity" metric for most parts.
The only exception I have found is when the social platform offers incentives to gain followers, as Medium did with its referral bonus program in August 2021. Authors earned a referral bonus for each paid member they managed to sign up as a follower.
You can see the difference clearly when comparing top authors, and I have more details and statistics in this story:
https://finntropy.substack.com/p/coming-soon
Hi, Alberto: One of the sections of my article is based on this post, with accreditation:
https://liderar.substack.com/p/vale-la-pena-mejorar-actualizar-y/