Social media sometimes feels like high school.  Many base their personal worth as a reflection of the number of friends they have.  As if it’s a popularity contest and the follower count actually means something.

There are services where you can buy people to follow you.

A simple twitter search shows people who are only interested in you if you will follow them back.

What these people don’t recognize is there’s no prize for a higher follower count.  No bonus for reaching some milestone number.

It may be great for the ego to say “Look at me, I have X number of followers!” but at the end of the day you have nothing to show for it. Buying followers doesn’t make them care about your content or what you have to say.

Caring about, sharing, and acting on your content – isn’t that the point? A tight relationship with 20 people will always bear more fruit than 3,000 people who ignore you and are only in it for the follower count.

Stop wasting time staring at an artificial number.  If you’re looking for a higher level of engagement, spend the time cultivating meaningful and deeper relationships with the friends you have.  Raving fans beget more raving fans.  Empty pockets of followers beget… well, nothing.