Hit 500 followers on my art portfolio and it felt weirdly sad

I finally crossed 500 followers on my digital art Instagram last Tuesday. I thought I would feel excited but instead I just felt weird. Most of those follows came from follow-for-follow groups and I don't actually know if anyone looks at my work. Has anyone else hit a milestone that felt hollow instead of happy?

3 comments

3 Comments

violamurray23d ago

So you want real followers who actually look, or just a bigger number?

reesemoore23d ago

@violamurray is on to something but yeah those 500 followers feel like 500 empty pizza boxes - looks like you had a party but nobody showed up. I hit 300 last week and 250 of them are probably bots or people who forgot they followed me in 2019. Real talk, the silence after you post is louder than any follower milestone. At least with a hollow number you can pretend someone cares.

drewsullivan21d ago

Isn't overthinking follower counts just giving the algorithm exactly what it wants?