does anyone derive value from a displayable follow count? 

if so, what does it do for you?

For myself: I put it on my resume (it shows I’ve grown an audience)

For others: it shows they’ve likely been here a while (early adopter -> open minded & experimental)

Interested in social infrastructure (URL & IRL) | slowly building /firstdraft | markfishman.xyz

Hey mark! Cool! So some form of signalling in both cases? 

Let’s say your follower count went away right now, do you think you could you still demonstrate those outcomes to those 2 audiences?

I’m wondering just how important having that number is to people.

For sure — what’s a good signal for quality?

for me, it’s really a vibe, a feeling that this person is worth opening my attention to

Oh yeah it’s definitely signaling. I think people would find other ways to signal if there were no follower counts

I don’t think follower counts are necessarily the best signal for quality / relevance though