It’s not about the number of Followers.
But you know that already, right ?
A colleague once asked me where do I spend most of my time on the internet, I told her about Medium. She knew about freeCodeCamp, since she is also a developer. But she didn’t know their blog was hosted on Medium.
Anyway, I showed her my Medium Profile page with much enthusiasm, so she could take a look at my latest favourite poem. And as soon as I got to the profile page, I saw that my follower count had reduced by one. I usually never check that number, but I remember crossing 400 when my brother congratulated me for that.
It had now gone to 399. It immediately made me think— Oh, someone unfollowed. Maybe they are realising that their ideas don’t resonate with mine.
They made a conscious effort to unfollow. That takes thought. An actual thought.
And that makes me fucking happy.
A while ago, I unfollowed 500 people on Facebook. Then slowly added only those people who’s feeds I genuinely missed. I don’t follow more than 50 people now. But I am absolutely sure that those 50 people matter to me. Or at the least, their content matters to me.
After that cleanse, it was once again fun to use Facebook, where I wasn’t bombarded with pages and people constantly yelling on the news feed. It was deliberate. It was intentional. It was me. I cared enough to unfollow.
And someone from the 400 who unfollowed me, cared enough to think for a minute and decide something awesome for themselves. I love that ❤
The reason why I don’t give a shit about the “number of” followers is, I don’t want numbers. I’m here to talk. I’m here to read, learn and write.
Why I follow.
I follow someone because I connect with them. Their art. Their content. I don’t look at their follower count. Or how famous they are, or how many prestigious publications they write for. I follow to connect.
There is something about finding peace and resonance in someone else’s words.
Maybe they inspire me, or enrage me, or make me chuckle. If you can emote using words that I love, I follow.
The content doesn’t need to be really high quality and super-polished. All it takes is, one thought. If your words can do some magic in my head, you’re let in.
Fuck Numbers.
I want to speak to people. Connect in an actual sense. Not just ghost followers! If I follow you, I will take an actual interest in getting to know you whenever I can!
Maybe that is creepy to some people. I’ve been raised in a home that values human connect over anything. I follow around 200 odd people on Medium right now. And I at least fairly remember why I followed them in the first place.
I might have not interacted with them with words yet; but I cherish their work here. And I don’t re-think about starting a conversation with someone if I feel like, after reading their content.
If we can’t start a dialogue with our words here, what the fuck are we even doing here?
And I run a fucking publication, with all my heart and soul, that has 6 followers! I know! I know!
But you know what? I am glad because something that touches me deeply, is also touching other people’s lives. Which is in this case, is my music pub.
Actual Interaction
I actually talk to people I meet on Medium. I’m not going to tag each one here, but ya’ll know who you are. ❤ Twitter DMs, Little notes on my posts, E-mails, Responses.
THIS. This is what I expect from Medium. An actual conversation.
I don’t care if just one person follows me, because you can’t talk to numbers, but you can surely talk to people.
I write Open Letters to Medium, talk about millennials, ruminate over poems I wrote when I was thirteen & write poems about good-byes, crazy ex-girlfriends and simple murders.
You can hit me up at hi@writealetterforme.com. Prefer chai-tea over coffee 😋
