Is Aggressive Following Necessary?
I get an average of 3 new followers per day. Most of them follow me without having never commented one of my stories. Maybe the clapped, but they did it only once.
I’ve read about writers with many thousand followers complaining about an incredibly small actual audience.
That’s easy to explain, by aggressive following. But this raises issues and questions too.
Aggressive following
Social networks — thanks to the lack of real commitment — respond extremely well to the reciprocity norm.
Simply put, you do something for someone and, sometimes, you get something back, because the someone feels obliged to reciprocate. Statistically, you get your rewards.
While in psychology and sociology this concept has a wide meaning about attitudes, in the social platforms — and the Web in general — it takes on a concrete meaning. I give you a free resource, you give me your email (it worked, just before you started doing it). Or, I comment your posts, and maybe you’ll comment mine.
I follow you; maybe you follow me back.
However, beyond reciprocity, following you means that you see me. A little hack to gain visibility in your eyes. If I do that systematically, this is called aggressive following. And social…
