The Curse of the “Follow-Backer”

Following the Fickle Tale Of the Follow-Backer

Let’s face it. Our lives are playing out almost entirely on Social Media. We share all of our thoughts, however trivial or nonsensical. It’s a never ending battle for acceptance, exposure, but most of all — Followers!

This quagmire plays out on the pages of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook every day as we spend our online hours attempting to gather as many likes and followers as possible. This nonstop struggle has given rise to an interesting internet denizen that I call “The Follow-Backer”, or FB for short.

Have you ever been scrolling through Instagram and run into a profile with thousands of followers, but surprisingly little content? Have you noticed your follower count growing, only to see it shrink the very next day? Usually it takes time and hard work to achieve “influencer” status, but some just aren’t down to wait that long.

The “Follow-Backer”

Here are a few signs that you have found a Follow-Backer:

• They have thousands of followers, but very little content.
• Possibly 10 posts or photos with little to no comments. Nothing about their content says “You should follow me because I’m interesting!”
• They follow a “moderate” number of people, only a fraction of the number that follow them.
• Generic profile picture, or none at all

To the untrained eye, it looks like this person is totally winning at life — they have thousands of followers, and they don’t even have to post that pesky content. They must be a super interesting person!

While it is entirely possible that they are an interesting person, that is not the reason they have so many followers. They follow a process that I call “Follow-Backing.”

To understand the mindset of the Follow-Backer, we must first assess human nature on social media. I know that when I receive a new follower notification, I will usually click on their profile to investigate. This happens doubly if the new person has a large following. Most social media platforms will make it well-known that these folks are important. A lot of times I hit the “Follow-Back” button, because “They have so many followers! This person must be famous!”

The Follow-Backer knows this, and they fully exploit it.

The life of the FB is spent finding and following as many people as possible. They find and follow thousands of profiles a day, and they are fully aware that the knee-jerk reaction is to follow-back. They will gain thousands of followers per week.

If they stopped here, there would be no problem. Unfortunately, the Follow-Backer doesn’t stop here.

In order to hide their tracks, the FB will go through their list and un-follow the bulk of the profiles a few days later. This way they are able to maintain the appearance of a “modest” following. If they didn’t, their dastardly deeds would be obvious to one and all.

Follow, follow, follow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow. The Follow-Backer gains more followers every minute.

This charade is running rampant across all social media platforms. As long as there are follower counts, views and likes, there will be those hoping to reach influencer status with little to no work. Just like COVID-19, Follow-Backers aren’t going away anytime soon.

Well, there you have it! You now hold the secret to gaining more followers than you can shake a wireless mouse at.

The only downside is — to practice this method, means you will completely missing out on all of the good things that social media has to offer (They’re in there somewhere). Sure, you may get lots of followers, but zero of them will actually find you or your content interesting. To practice Follow-Backing is to sell your soul to the internet devil — all for the low low price of your online dignity.

But who needs dignity when you’re an influencer, amirite?