It's Cool to Have No Followers Now

"In many cases, though, a huge audience today could mean little in terms of human enthusiasm-the majority of followers might be bots, hate-followers, and dead profiles, as evidenced by low engagement on the user's actual posts. Moreover, now that social media has dominated culture for more than a decade, many big accounts belong to figures of an earlier era of notoriety; they are the establishment rather than the vanguard."

"The music producer Jack Antonoff, who hit his creative peak in the twenty-tens, has more than a half million followers on X, whereas the acclaimed up-and-coming musician Nourished by Time has just over three thousand. Which is a better follow? The large numbers don't quite mean what they used to as signals of relevance or clout, as social media has become more aged, more manipulable, and more automated by artificial intelligence."

Follower counts come from different sources: celebrity or brand inheritance, platform-specific organic growth, or reputational expertise. Large numeric followings can mask low human engagement because many followers are bots, hate-followers, or inactive accounts. Many prominent accounts reflect earlier-era notoriety and establishment status rather than current cultural relevance. Examples include platform-built stars and trusted expert accounts alongside legacy celebrity audiences. The shifting ecosystem—aging platforms, increased manipulability, and automation—has made modest, conspicuous followings gain cachet as perceived signals of authenticity and genuine engagement.

Read at The New Yorker