No, this is not going to be a rant or anything down those lines. This is just going to be about putting things in perspective.
At the time of writing I'm on 515 followers, but what do those followers actually mean to me with regards to engagement? For the most part, Jack shit.
For this exercise I'm using steemspectacles.com - Please note I have no affiliation with them however they have a useful (and visually appealing) platform which can provide you with some in depth information. There are others like steemd.com, steemdb.com etc. however for this particular exercise spectacles, imo, is the best platform to work with.
So, I have 515 followers. What does that actually mean? Allow me to put it into perspective below:
Of those 515 I have 392 Ghost followers. Ghost followers are active Steemians who haven't engaged with me in my last 100 posts. I take it this will include comments as well however that is still a dreadful number.
Next, I have 133 Dead followers. Dead followers are Steemians who haven't been active in over a month.
That leaves my Steemit following at an astounding... - 10, lol.
Hmmm, that doesn't look quite right. Perhaps the guys over @steemspectacles (@pilcrow & @sjennon) can explain it to me? Unless there is a bit of an overlap between the Ghost and Dead followers or some alternative explanation. Another thing I can think of is that perhaps it somehow doesn't update followers that aren't following you anymore? Not that it matters too much. That figure of -10 followers is actually pretty darn close :)
So, who are you people? Specifically the 392 Ghosts. The dead guys, well, there's not much to be done about that.
I'd much rather have 10 followers that show fairly regular support as opposed to a bunch that doesn't mean anything.
Where do I get most of my support from then?
Well, mostly from the Team South Africa community and random curators. That's it. Not from my followers except a handful of them.
What also needs to be taken into consideration here is that I didn't grow my followers with the follow me, I'll follow you approach, therefore, it's not based on following thousands and getting thousands to follow in return. I've also always interacted well with my commentators so it can't be that either. I've discussed this with others who find the same situation so it's not a singular issue.
So, to the next person who wants to do a little victory dance/milestone post stating Achieved! how much did you actually achieve, realistically? Perhaps your followers are more interactive or perhaps you struck it lucky with a few heavy hitters (high vote value members) so you don't really care... I've seen that happen too :)
Anyhow, to my 515 followers, thanks for... uhhm, being a number I suppose. To the rest that engage, support and interact, you are all ROCKSTARS!
Hmmm, this actually got me thinking. Perhaps I should create a post whereby I list all the followers of mine who don't support me. I'll then ask them that if they have no interest in supporting me that they rather get off my following list so I can have a real picture of my profile. What do you think about that idea? It's just an unrealistic number after all and doesn't mean... Jack Shit :)
Keep it real y'all :D
Cheers!
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