How do some hubbers get so many followers?

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   Precious Williamsposted 13 years ago

   How do some hubbers get so many followers in such a short space of time.  Okay - some people write brilliant hubs on interesting topics but it still puzzles me.  I expect someone will come back and say that I should have read something somewhere that makes it obvious - so apologies if this is a boring point.

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      Anesidoraposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah I hate it when she does that. And I thought I was a ...

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      (Q)posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      In this day and age, content is boring, too much content is downright dangerous.
      
      Lonelygirl15 on YouTube was a perfect example of this phenomenon.

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      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Forum interaction gets followers.The sad thing for us oldies, is that internet etiquette forbade us from posting from day 1. We were taught to read and keep quiet until we had learned the ways of the forum, and to not ask about things that had already been covered a million times before.
      Nowadays, everyones asks first, and thinks later. But, having made that first contact and not been shot to pieces is all the encouragement it takes to fully participate.
      Full participation of the forums gets you noticed, and being noticed gets you fans.
      But money comes from organic traffic, not hubbers. Fans are lovely, but not the be all and end all.
      And they won't make you money.
      Me? I participate in the forums because I want to, because I like the people and the interaction. I like the characters, but I don't do it to gain more fans like some I could mention.

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      cosetteposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      honestly, i just write hubs and people start following me. i also read their hubs and comment, but not to score followers. not everyone who you comment follows. i remember when i first started here i was all jazzed when i saw that i had one follower (they called them fans back then).
      
      
      
      anyway good luck. i will come read you and follow you, so that's one more, heh.

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   LeanManposted 13 years ago

   Follow everyone else and many will follow you back... very simple... Follow, make comments on other peoples hubs and make smart comments in the forums and people will eventually follow you....

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      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Many will follow in return but there are plenty who will not.
      
      I'm under the impression that many people join HubPages thinking it's a social networking site or a social bookmarking site. So, they follow as many people as possible, so as to get a lot of followers.
      
      I have a lot of followers who don't even bother to read my writing and do not visit any of my hubs.
      
      Then again, I have about less than 100 of my followers, who actually read my writing or check out my other hubs.
      
      I received a lot of my followers because of my views and interaction within the forums.
      
      Just my thoughts on the subject.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         That's true.  It's not what following is meant to be about, though (as you know, Cag).  If you follow someone, you can get notified of any new Hubs they write, so you can read them.  If you follow too many people, you can't possibly keep up with all that reading!  So personally, I only follow people whose writing I'm really, really interested in. 
         
         In spite of that, I've gathered a lot of followers myself - so following other people isn't the only way to get them. 
         
         However, no one will follow you if no one knows you exist, so you do need to be active in the forums.

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      Lecieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      i agree with you lean. i have followed many from day one and most thankfully have returned the favor. it also helps to have brilliant hubs. mine aren't very good at all. i just write when the mood strikes and i rarely ever revise. most of the time i don't even know what i'm writing. kind of like being in a trance and then i'm shocked that something is on the paper. so i just think well if it was good enough for me to trance out chances are it's quality enough for others. but the key thing for me has been to hub hop and follow others in order to gain followers.

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   valery eliasposted 13 years ago

   I would like to know this as well.

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   goldenpathposted 13 years ago

   gunpoint!

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   LeanManposted 13 years ago

   You all have one more follower.... see, just interact with the rest of the community...

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      Precious Williamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you

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   Greek Oneposted 13 years ago

   People usually follow me because of my good looks and not for the content of my Hubs.
   
   I'm OK with that, but i do feel kinda dirty for a wile after I send them my nude pics

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      Wayne Orvisburgposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      What about the ones that send some back? I'm guessing they're never the ones you wanted.

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         Greek Oneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         i usually keep them as 'pity followers'
         
         I'm OK with that

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      literalposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Lol

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   Mishaposted 13 years ago

   Free lunch makes wonders

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      49lartposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      "Following" creates a friendly community for visitors.

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      TheWicklessCandleposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Haha. well, what are you in the mood for!

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   Good Intentionsposted 13 years ago

   I have no followers, but then I havent followed anyone yet.  I am just feeling my way.  Should I be clicking on people to follow?

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      Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If you like their writing.
      
      and I expect my followers to send me $1 each month Surprisingly, no one has followed those rules...

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         Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         OK... I can see this is going to take time.  Thanks Univited Writer!

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   Richieb799posted 13 years ago

   Im slowly approaching 200 followers and havent tried

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      Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That is very good... 6 months eh... umm.. it is going to take time, I can see that.
      
      But it is like chicken and egg... what is the point of producing articles when there are no followers to read them?

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         Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         If you have got something important to say, you will find a way to an audience. Otherwise, why write at all?

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            Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, and I suppose we all have to start somewhere.  Thank you for your inspiration, I am sure that with work it will happen.

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         Anesidoraposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         HP followers don't really mean a whole lot. Most HP followers won't even read your stuff anyway, unless it's something they're interested in. They're even less likely to click on anything.
         
         Don't worry about HP followers. It's virtually meaningless. You want outside traffic, and HP followers have extremely little to nothing to do with that.

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         Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You want to attract people through Google and other search engines rather than just Hubpages. They are the people who tend to click on ads and earn you money. Keyword research will help with that. I don't do that much research and I'm hitting at least $100 a month.
         
         If you take part in discussions like this people will get to know you and will check out your hubs and probably follow you if they like what you have to say.

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            Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you.  I am working on some articles at the moment.  So lets see what people think!

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      Spacey Graceyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It's for your devasting good looks

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    Website Examinerposted 13 years ago

    "Many followers" - how many would that be?

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       Precious Williamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I'm not really sure what I mean by many followers.  But there seem to be so many people celebrating they've passed 100, 200 etc etc. in very short space of times, it doesn't make me feel encouraged - it just makes me feel inadequate.  And before you tell me not to be so self obsessed and get on with it I will shut up.

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          Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Those are achievable goals. But you have to stand for something, so people come to identify you with something. It takes a consistent effort over a period of time.
          
          At first, there is hardly anything at all, then people will start drizzling in at a rate of maybe a handful a week. You will get there, once you have found out what kind of hubber you want to be.

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             Precious Williamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Sound advice - thank you.

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          Anesidoraposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Most followers follow people due to interaction in the forums. So you can spend all your time in the forums trying to court potential followers who won't increase your earnings, or you can focus on gaining outside traffic which will increase your earnings.
          
          Or you can focus on the latter and occassionally check in the forums just to share some camaraderie and encouragement and shared procrastination from time to time.

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             Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I don't think you can pay attention to things like how many followers you or anyone else has.  People get followers for different reasons, and even one Hubber will have followers who "follow" (and don't really even follow) for their own reasons.  I think if you just create the best Hubs you can, genuinely enjoy participating in some of the other things on the site (the forums, reading other people's stuff, etc.) things just kind of fall into place.  Some people come to the forums for the sole purpose of hoping to get followers, and they'll make a bunch of meaningless remarks "just to get their names seen".    I think  you should participate in whatever you want to, don't participate in what you don't want to - but be genuine and aim to make some contribution in some way.  Unless you have some "gimmick" for getting a zillion followers, followers tend to just kind of add up over time.
             
             When all is said and done, what to focus on is trying to come up with the best Hubs you can.  If Hubs are good the traffic comes over time.

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    Anesidoraposted 13 years ago

    Write internet marketing hubs. Marketing to internet marketers seems to be the biggest market.

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    watchyaposted 13 years ago

    Create Sockpuppets and follow yourself ! LOL
    
    I see a lot of people doing it lately !

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, you're good at doing that. *tantrum*

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          watchyaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          No. Sorry ! But I don't follow myself. Check my 'followers '
          
          No tantrum among them
          You should think before posting LOL

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             Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I don't care.
             
             You play with sock puppets is my point.

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                watchyaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                What about you ? Do I have to name them here ?
                
                

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                   Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   I dare you to try little lady. Because YOU would be a liar, right out of the gate. I have only one account, so stick where the sun don't shine.

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                      watchyaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                      But you play with someone's Sockpuppets and that is what we're talking about !

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                         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                         Again, that would make you a liar.

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    Jane@CMposted 13 years ago

    Your followers will come.  Share your work outside the Hub world - share it on Facebook, email friends and family, backlink.  Yes it is great to have Hub followers, but I guess the question you need to ask your self is, "who are my readers, and what is my intent"?  Do you intend to make money?  If so, then you want organic traffic, hubbers are not going to click on your ads.

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    Anesidoraposted 13 years ago

    Good Intentions - The first step is probably to learn about keywords and writing with keywords.

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       Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I was reading about that.  I need to know some fundamentals before I release my articles.  I want to take this slowly and methodically. 
       
       Thank you for this.  I will check out wikipedia and find out more.

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    Greek Oneposted 13 years ago

    it doesnt really matter how many followers you have.  Write what you want, participate in forums, and with time you will get up there.

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       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       This coming from someone who just started a thread celebrating his first 100 followers!

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          Greek Oneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          got to have SOME reason to party!

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             Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I'm sure you so richly deserve every single one, congrats!

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                Greek Oneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I wouldnt go that far.. but thanks lol

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    frogdroppingposted 13 years ago

    Because we good *nods*
    
    
    
    Seriously ... I have a few dozen. I have no idea who most of them are. I have no idea if most of them remember who I am. I fairly certain that to a hubber they're good people but I reckon there are maybe a dozen that genuinely comment etc. Maybe the same again read and rate but leave no comments (I do this too) - which leaves an awful lot of hubbers in the ether
    
    Don't sweat it. Better you have 24 hubbers following you *cringes again* that you interact with, than several thousand that you don't

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       nikipaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I am with you there! Good points!

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    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    For example...look how many followers I have. My latest hub has had 13 views since last night...

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    ryankettposted 13 years ago

    Most of my followers join following a hubpage which is useful for the community, such as topics about backlinking or adsense strategies etc. A fair few probably come from forum activity. Also becoming a featured hubber normally does the trick.

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    LeanManposted 13 years ago

    I tend to follow people i interact with within the forums, otherwise I have been searching hubs that are in the same and similar areas as my own and have followed the people that have hubs that I actually liked..

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       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Deleted
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          LeanManposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          You should go and check out the old "rumours about me" thread that was on the go several weeks ago...

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             Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks, LeanMan, for the reference.
             
             
             http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/40787

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    alternate poetposted 13 years ago

    Followers are nice to have as new hubs get mailed out to many people which ups their 'net' count I guess (if anyone comes to look) - but having hundreds of forum mutual-masturbaters by patrolling and licking a*s surely can't be of any real value ?

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       Good Intentionsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Oh? A bit confused now

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          Polly Cposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          He just means that going on the forums with the sole intention of trying to get hundreds of people to follow you will not really mean much. You might get a lot of followers, but unless they read your hubs or converse with you then what's the point? They will only end up a statistic on your profile page.

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             Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             That's how I understood it. Forgive him, he is a poet.

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                Polly Cposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I know - he's still great though!

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    timorousposted 13 years ago

    This morning I got a notice of new 'follower'.  When I checked it out, this "follower" had started following at least 12 other hubbers in the space of a minute.  Talk about insincerity.
    
    I currently have about 30 followers, and I regularly read the hubs of about 1/4 of them.  I also follow these few, and have struck up a good rapport with them.  One in particular has become a dear friend, and we exchange private e-mails fairly regularly...I won't say whom.
    
    Don't worry about any of the extraneous stuff like followers, Hub Score, HubKarma or anything.  It may make some people feel appreciated, but it's not a popularity contest here..it's not exactly social networking. 
    
    Just keep writing interesting stuff that people like to read about, and hopefully they'll also enjoy your writing style.

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       Precious Williamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the sound advice.  You are absolutely right.

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    Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

    Just write, do good work and good editing/proofreading, and pop into the forums from time to time and meet folks.
    
    You'll pick up tons that are just following everyone they possibly can.  I'd say 70% will be that.
    
    25% or so are people from the forums who appreciate your comments or humor or belief system or whatever.
    
    10% are people who actually read your stuff at least from time to time, when they can.  (They may or may not have turned off email notifications of who published what.)
    
    5% are actually keeping up with stuff.  Maybe less than 5%.  To me it seems like they must be getting email notifications.
    
    Frankly, I wish (and keep suggesting from time to time) that they add a check box on the list of people I am following that allows me to check whether I want email notifications or not.  I could control my "subscribership" based on how much free time I have or don't have at various points in the year.  That's the feature I really would like to see as a reader of hubs (Sorry, don't mean to hijack there.)

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Hmmm......you been hitting the hard stuff Shades? 110% huh?
       They might not be receiving any email notifications, depending on their settings.

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          Shadesbreathposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          LOL  I write because I am illetterut in math.

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             Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Good to know.

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    zzronposted 13 years ago

    I think it is a lot of diffrent things, good writing, good topics, leaving good comments, being friendly and using back links to promote your hubs such as this one.               
      <snipped>

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       oscillationatendposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I usually beat them into submission.
       
       Ohhh sure, they whine about lawsuits and all that but after chaining them down and showing them re-runs of "Whose The Boss?" for a few days they'll read ANYTHING I put in front of them.
       
       I'm thinking about writing a manual.

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          Pam Robersonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          LOL! Yeah, that worked on me very nicely! Write the manual!

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    Mighty Momposted 13 years ago

    If I promise to read the manual can I be spared from the "Whose the Boss" marathon?

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       Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Hey MightyMom, you trying to skate by without the torture part? That takes the fun out of it. (j/k)

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       oscillationatendposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Okay, I'll spare you Mighty Mom.

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    jenblacksheepposted 13 years ago

    If you want a lot of followers then you need to spend time in the forums, having discussions, saying useful things, and generally participating. Then you need to read hubs, make useful comments etc etc. and write hubs of your own otherwise people won't be interested.
    
    Don't fan a load of people and hope they fan you back, that's just not cool.

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    warchild75posted 10 years ago

    Was on here for 5 years, gained over 300 followers, left for a year, gained none, Came back recently and wrote two hubs, also went on a few forum posts and hey presto another 2 followers, Just interact!.

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