I'm Changing Why I Follow

I Need More

I've been trying really hard since day one to only follow folks who create posts that I like. That included some witnesses and others who primarily produce charts or analytics. I found them useful to begin with.

However, their numbers and graphs don't change a whole lot from day to day (a weekly post might reflect more change), and rarely do those types of posts come with any commentary, or knowledge behind the numbers. Some try to figure out what might be happening, others just send out charts with their descriptions.

So, I've decided to unfollow them. None were following me so my guess would be, they won't notice.

Lately, I'm not only trying to find people who create posts I like, but where I feel like I can actually leave an intelligent comment. I want to interact in some way beyond just the upvote or a resteem I might give.

Finding someone who consistently posts something I want to read is hard enough. Finding someone who I like to read who also engages on their posts is that much more harder to find.

It's not just about upvoting—me upvoting the post, or getting an upvote for a comment. It's also about holding a meaningful dialogue.

People are busy, I know. Not everyone has the time. After crafting the post and publishing it, there are other things to do. I get it. As valuable as that information might be, though, don't be surprised if I go looking for someone else who has a little more time to engage.

How Many?

While I'm trying to find those I like to read and engage with, I'm also trying to figure out the right number of people to follow. I don't want to have so many that I can't possibly keep up, but I still want to follow as many as possible. And preferably, a group that is diverse in thought as well as subject matter, so I get all kinds of information and viewpoints, rather than just a couple of topics repeating the same things over and over.

I'm not following to follow. I'm following for something else. Something I can upvote because it's good and I'm learning from it, and someone I can regularly engage with, be it the author or other commenters on the page.

I was following over 30 people. I've pared it down to the lower 20s, adding a few as I go. I'm not sure if it's going to stay that way (depends on how prolific and consistent people are). I've done this already where I'll follow someone because of a post or two and then subject matter changes or becomes more of something else that I'm not as interested in.

It's hard.

You're Following Me?!?

I've been trying to figure out my own following. Currently, there's over 130, of which I know at least a few aren't really active. I suspect others are bots. Those that are actually human, though, why are you following me? Is it my winning personality and cheery disposition? My witty repartee and charming allure? Do I put the dash in dashing?

My guess is, none of the above. If people are actually following me for any other reason than they feel they must follow as many people as they can, then I would hope it's because they count on me to engage with them when they engage with me.

Unfortunately, there's probably around 10 followers who regularly interact with me, at least in any meaningful way. That's excluding the short two to ten word comments that range from the trite and repetitive to the unintelligible and inappropriate.

At that rate of interaction, less than 1 out of 10, I'll need over 600 followers to get 50 who are in some way finding value in following. That's actually not a bad ratio, when you consider that marketers are happy to get 2-3% engagement from their audience, let alone something closer to 8%.

It still feels like an awful lot of dead weight in a place where meaningful and profitable exchanges can take place. I don't know if it's because people just can't shake what they're used to doing on social media elsewhere, if they just can't come up with something more thoughtful to say, if English isn't their language, or maybe everyone else is just a bot. Regardless of the reason, it seems like a waste of time to be here if all you're doing is making inane comments expecting someone to drop a centavo on it.

I haven't been rewarding such comments, and I'm about as liberal a comment rewarder as you will find. On other posts, such behavior will get flagged into oblivion, so it's really nonsensical.

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment on my posts or comments. I also appreciate the upvotes. I try to reciprocate both as much as I can. In fact, I've been making it a priority. And some people who were following me without a corresponding follow will find I've added them to the list I'm following now. I probably should have done it before.

More Than Quality Posts

Finding value is what we do here, but it goes beyond the words and images on the blog post. There's a lot more to it. And if a lot more people did it, the Steemit community would be all the better for it.

And it would make it even that much harder to figure out who to follow. But in a good way.

As it is, I'm not entirely sure if being followed is what I want. I'd rather be followed for my work, not for me. That seems like cult of personality, and puts a little bit more pressure on things.

I'm a creator, not a people magnet. Introvert and spotlight don't go together very well.

Holding some meaningful conversations with people has been working out, though, even for me. So, I'm going to keep seeking them out and see where they lead me.

Herd of Cats, Zombies and Snake Oil Salesmen

Just for fun, I found some images that I think describe the way people most often follow around here. Maybe you'll see it, too. Hopefully, we're all trying to do better.

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These folks represent the non-engaged follower. Too busy with whatever they're doing, they're only peripherally aware enough to keep from falling down or running into something.

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That fellow is just plain scary. He's definitely unwanted and if he gets to you, he can really wreck your day. So, that could be the troll follower, the serial flagger (over one disagreement that they can't let go of ever), or it could be a mindless bot simply following it's programming. Moral of the story, be ready to run.

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This is how I envision the 'cult of personality' and their followers. No one knows what the heck they're doing or where they're going, but because they sound like they do or make big promises, gobs of folks run around with them.