Does Having a Large Amount of Followers Matter to You?

1. 79

   FreezeFrame34posted 12 years ago

   What has your experience been. Did you notice that the more people you followed, the more people followed you? Did you ever start following people just because you wanted more followers? I have been pretty selective in the people that I follow and I am totally happy with all of the awesome Hubbers I have met! Just wondering others thoughts on the whole process and what worked and didn't for them!

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2. 81

   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   I have never followed people just because they follow me.
   
   Obviously it is nice to know people want to follow, however, in my understanding there is no correlation between number of followers and income potential. Thus I do not make any particular efforts to gain followers.

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   1. 79

      FreezeFrame34posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks. I always felt that way too. Just wondering how other people felt.
      I have had some people send me fan mail saying, "Follow me too! Follow me !" It's been a turn-off.

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3. 72

   Shanna11posted 12 years ago

   Every day that goes by where I don't gain a new follower is a day of emotional agony, spent curled on my bathroom floor, leaving damp spots of tears and mucous.
   
   I measure my self-worth based on my amount of Hubpages followers.
   
   It's worse when I lose a follower. I become so lost in the throes of my own depression and self-pity that the milk in my fridge has begun to mutate before I can drag myself from the dusty space beneath my bed.

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      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      Darn it. I'm already following you.

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      1. 60

         Brandon Tartposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Admittedly, I can say that I have thought about that.  But writing on Hubpages was, to begin with, a place for me to insert rigorous daily thoughts into a public domain.  I am now attempting to publish a novel that I began writing in 2009, then moved to Estonia for about 7 months total, thus putting the book on the back burner.  In Feb. of 2011, I picked back up with fervor, and completed a 200,300 word novel that I found out I would have to divide into two parts to market it since anywhere from 80,000-130,000 words is what most agents and editors are willing to take on.  Now, if for a second I thought that the followers that I acquire on Hubpages would make me a better, more successful, eloquent and considerably reputable author - then, and only then would it really matter to me.   
         
         Here is what does matter, though - when I see that my traffic is up after reviewing my account, yet there are no remarks to the measure of useful, funny, interesting, etc...  THAT CONCERNS ME.  Here's why:
         
         Each of our works are at least worthy of a click to the effect of the aforementioned list of adjectives, if not a modicum of criticism.  What I have read here on Hubpages that makes me leap is when a writer herein has an unusual aesthetic in his or her diction.  I look for prose that is outrageous, in that it does not sound like today's common entertainment Literature.  Rather, it is a remarkably well crafted string of lexical pearls that are draped around the imagery of the neck of the woman written of in the adorning address! 
         
         In other words, Hubs that reflect a regard for a style of English that is now days - outdated... like literary fiction, it reaches the soul. 
         
         Finally - this question is hard to answer directly without being a bit trapped by a degree of discursivity that begs me to say that the high numbers do not reflect quality AT ALL.  The most successful authors and artists are usually in conflict first, with their contemporaries.  Second, the better it is, the less received it is by larger audiences since the greater part of literate folks are only literate to an extent.  Read my hub titled, To the Critic, for instance... people who rely on authors to bring the reader up to speed are reading books that start off right where it all begins.  Yet, people who can watch films where the movie is told out of sequence, are also probably aware of concepts such as En Media Res... and in knowing that idea, prefer a literature that allows the person who is scanning left to right to do some internal navigating both within themselves, and the book which is riddled with palimpsests.
         
         So, if people follow me here, then they'll follow me on my Hub.  If they don't, then chances are they just don't follow.  After all, there is a reason why some people go to MIT and why others go to a local CC.  That is no harsh statement, but we follow those who are writing to expel the soul's suffering, not to suffer those who follow to be followed.  They are not leaders, as they don't even know how to stand alone evidently.

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         1. 79

            FreezeFrame34posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the response. I have had people send me fan mail and say Follow me too! Follow me too!
            
            It makes me feel obligated to follow but it's a turn off!

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   2. 79

      FreezeFrame34posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Shanna11,  I am so glad I woke up in the middle of the night to check the status of my forum and saw so many responses! I will have a great day tomorrow, until the forum answers stop; then I might be in a downward spiral of depression; thanks for making me feel worthy of your response.

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4. 0

   Arlene V. Pomaposted 12 years ago

   You can't depend on an online audience because people tend to come and go.  Followers don't guarantee you a HubPages income.  I don't follow many people, but I have over 300 followers, and I've been here a year.  I have built this following without much effort.  I write Hubs, and I answer most comments from my readers.  I also comment and participate in certain Forum topics.  New Hubbers think they have to work hard at obtaining followers, but you don't.  Even if people followed you, don't expect them to read everything you put out there.  They have other things to do.

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      +1.

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5. 92

   MsDoraposted 12 years ago

   I'd be elated to have a large number of followers, but looking at the Hub Metrics tells me that on many of my articles most of the reads come from other sources than followers.  So, followers are not everything.  And though I follow most of my followers, I don't feel obligated to follow all of them.
   
   Yea, I also sigh when I lose a follower but I choose to believe that he or she is looking for something different than I have to offer. Better for them to not follow than to remain counted without reading.  We all have the right to be selective.

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6. 60

   mr williamsposted 12 years ago

   Not really. I think many users follow others just because they commented on their hubs

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   1. 79

      FreezeFrame34posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So true. You never know who actually follows you because they love your writing or they are just liked one answer you gave; they may have never read your work and they won't ever share any of it  either. They may also follow you because they are trying to gain followers too.

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   relacheposted 12 years ago

   Followers do so for their own reasons and at their own whims.  It's something that just happens which I have no control over.
   
   How many I have does not matter, especially as having a few thousand has proven how little they actually influence anything that happens with or to my Hubs.
   
   The follow feature didn't exist when I first started here and was a later invention.  I think having it is different for people who joined the site after it was built and added.

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