As a TOKEN OF MY APPRECIATION to FOLLOWERS and friends, i am upvoting every reply to this post at 50% of my voting power until it reaches 80%.

I know it’s not much, but just to say thank you to those who show interest at what I can offer to the community.
WARNING: BE NICE WITH YOUR REPLY. :-)

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO FOLLOW SOMEONE?

As I was starting out in Steemit a year ago, i started following people who started following me back. In fact, I formulated a little ‘follow me and i’ll follow you’ scheme and it actually worked. At that time, there were only about 70k users and we had to support each other. Thankfully, the supportive spirit of Steemit members is still a thing.

But sometimes, it makes me wonder why people follow me. What is it that they saw in my posts that made them click that FOLLOW button. It’s definitely not my handsome face, LOL!

So, in the context of Steemit, I made a list of why I follow people. I can only assume someone else’s reason(s) why they follow who they follow.

Reasons Why I Follow the People I Follow

To avoid being partial, I will not mention names. But what the heck, you’d find them in my Following list, anyways LOL.

Seriously, I believe everyone has great contents in their field of expertise and passion and interests. If, I am not following YOU, it’s not that you have not good contents but that they might just point to the other direction of my own interests and passion. I don’t expect everyone to follow my ‘Organic Farming Journey’ series, though I may think I have great contents. People have preferences and priorities that just happen not to jive with yours… or mine.

So here goes my list...

1. Education and Information

IMAGE CREDIT: NCES.ED.GOV

First and foremost. I believe most of us share the same No. 1 reason.There are a lot of bright and excellent content providers here in Steemit for diverse topics and audience. Choose wisely and objectively as to who you follow. There is no right or wrong content provider here, there’s just the matter of your interests and how the articles print an impression on you. I suggest you follow diverse content providers of the same topic, like nationality, profession, expertise, etc., without being prejudice, bias, and racist.

2. Friendship

IMAGE CREDIT: http://www.shareyouressays.com

This is one of the most popular reasons why we follow people, to become friends. But just to be safe, following someone or someone following you makes a friend. Friendship is built on sharing, communication, transparency, trust, and all those adjectives that friendship is built on. But first, BE A FRIEND.

3. Entertainment

IMAGE CREDIT: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/spending/T062-S001-save-money-on-entertainment-slide-show/index.html

There are a lot of funny people here in Steemit. Some are in fact,by professions, real entertainers. Movie reviewers, film critics, actors, singers, comedians/comediennes, clowns, among others, are here in Steemit to entertain you. Not to mention special interests like NSFW posts, if you’re in that stuff (well, I mentioned it anyway).

Look for entertainment that will uplift your soul, feed your mind with joy and happiness, remove stress, and encourage life.

4. Earnings and Curations

IMAGE CREDIT: https://steemit.com/steem/@wingz/how-to-buy-a-steem-dollar-for-less-than-a-dollar

Now, here’s why we are really here in Steemit in the first place. Please, tell me I’m wrong. With this reason, we tend to follow people with high level of reputation and SP (voting power), they are called WHALES. Nothing wrong with this. I think ALL, if not MOST of the people follow WHALES with the hopes that someday you post will be upvoted by them giving you high rewards.

Fact it, unless you’re friends with a WHALE or WHALEs, or you really have a great content that made an impression to them WHALES, your chances of getting upvoted by them is slim to none. But keep the dream alive. Who knows? (Crossing my fingers here hoping a WHALE upvotes this post...)

5. Reciprocity

IMAGE CREDIT: https://blog.fourerr.com/2013/04/17/5-free-ways-to-get-more-followers-on-twitter/

And here’s my last reason (on this list) why I follow people I follow. 'You scratch my back and I scratch yours.' But there is a flaw to this reasoning and somehow we just ignore this flaw for the sake of having followers of our own.

I do follow people who asks me to follow them. But I try to keep this number to a minimum. To be blunt, brutal, and honest at the same time, If you ask me to follow you, you must be offering something I will be very interested of. I know you will do the same thing.

Because I’d rather have 5 followers who are really interested with what I have to offer than having 5,000 whom I can’t connect with but to simply to adorn my Steemit profile.. (But still, 5000 is a valuable accomplishment and I wouldn’t mind having them all! LOL)

Now this being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if my followers will start dropping like flies from my Followers list after reading this. But here’s hoping you won’t do that, my FOLLOWERS. Because without you, my existence here in Steemit is of NO VALUE (well, aside from gaining and losing some SBD cents, from time to time).

My Challenge to You Followers and Friends

Why do you follow people you follow? Comment below and get that UPVOTE from me. Yes, like right now!

Wishing all of you a great year with Steemit, having tens of thousands of followers! Now, if you have not been following me, NOW is the right time to do it. C’mon, I know you want to...

Cheers!