your followers won't care about you

there's a new wave of content creation in regards to design

specifically ui design, and mostly on twitter

a lot of new web designers trying to run giveaway contests of mid-quality framer templates in exchange for a follow and retweet

many are also doing hero-section redesigns of websites without having a single data point about the business and its users

and it is working very well!

a friend of mine is clocking 200+ likes per tweet with this strategy

my account has been stuck on 900 followers for the past 4 months, but at the same time, he has gotten more than 2500 followers

a nice success in terms of numbers, but is there any value to it ?

like, do the people behind their profiles give a fuck about them ?

after all, other than creating content, a designer is a craftsman who shapes society and culture with his creations

but it has been reduced to a game of mere numbers today

even the trends in our industry don't tend to last for more than 5 months, hi linear!

so what makes you think your followers will stay with you till the end of your career ?

i've been on the internet since i was maybe 11

i have seen the boom of the internet in my country india

but i also was heavily consuming american and english content as well

i have seen many 'influencers' come and go

genres being born and dying off after a specific cycle, once algorithms changed

my all-time favorite youtuber was ryan higa aka nigahiga, and it is sad but kids today have no idea who he is

he was the most famous man on youtube in its early days

at one point having more subscribers than smosh, pewdiepie and ray william johnson

but, where is he today if he was so wildly successful ?

4+ years of no uploads, the channel is dead

because here's the sad truth nobody wants to confirm to...

time passes, creators lose their spark and become irrelevant in the battle against algorithms, and the followers stop caring about them

and this is exactly why you, as a creator, should focus on making something of real value, instead of focusing on numbers

i mean numbers are important, don't misinterpret, but getting numbers by creating something timeless is much better than putting out crap meant for virality

because you will get the numbers with the latter in the short term, but you will never build a legacy with it

the reason why i specifically mentioned ryan higa over hundreds of other popular creators is exactly this

he reshaped the way youtube videos worked, he was a pioneer in making skits

most of them being relatively funny even today after 15+ years

but still, he sadly became irrelevant

just like i will, you will, and some guy rejoicing about hitting a new follower milestone right now will

because after all - parasocial relationships aren't real and don't last once you stop showing up on people's feeds

this is why creators have a shelf life

be it an actor, a singer, a designer or a novelist

it is sad, but it is what it is

but use it to fuel yourself into building more impactful work instead of hijacking your way to the top

maybe build a product that saves people time and stress, instead of another ai-generated collection of wallpapers

maybe invent a new technique that changes the name of the game, instead of another roadmap video to become a ui/ux designer that doesn't factor in specific individual circumstances

because your followers will forget you, the vanity metrics don't exactly matter after a certain point - hence focus on rejoicing your time while it stays

and most importantly, have fun and build a legacy.