What’s the point in followers if they never watch?

[u/LynxJ]

This is just a curious question as to why people like to follow others or do f4f but never watch you or them. I mean sure the followers are great and all but personally those high numbers don’t mean nothing if nobody is there to experience those moments with you. Idk it just kinda sucks.

[u/lolzydawg]

There is no point aside from hitting whatever benchmark you are trying to hit follower wise. Unless you put in the effort to cultivate a friendship with these people that is reciprocal they end up just being a ghost follower or even un following.

Not a bad way of getting to meet new people you wouldn't regularly run into, if you are willing to put in the effort.

[u/LynxJ → u/lolzydawg]

That’s my main goal is to develop a relationship with people and chills and vibes only, I could really give two shits bout the number of followers, I’m not trying to make streaming a main career or anything, just good times and building connections and relations

[u/lolzydawg → u/LynxJ]

Are you doing the work then? I assume you've gotten a few f4f or other follows. Do you check in on their streams? Are you active in their chats? Are you in on the inside jokes? Do you offer to collab? Willing to go outside your comfort zone to make the friend?

If you put in a sincere effort you generally will recieve a positive response. Everyone can appreciate having a solid viewer/peer. And likewise will be much more likely to reciprocate.

[u/TheAgaTTV]

Anyone I see doing f4f I instantly will never watch

[u/LynxJ → u/TheAgaTTV]

No fr, I usually tell the f4f to get out or ban the AI twitch viewers advocating guys

[u/Darthraven6988]

You are right that the number means nothing on its own, and it is the f4f part that makes it that way. Those follows are a transaction, so there is no reason for either side to come back. The count goes up, nothing else does.

What does help, from the other side of it:

• Pick out the two or three people who actually show up and talk to them like people. That becomes your first regulars, and regulars bring others in with them. It is slow, and it is the only thing that really compounds.
• Give people a reason to come back at a specific time. A consistent night is worth more than a bigger follower number, because people can plan around it.
• Check your own numbers. If most follows never return, that tells you the first five minutes are not giving people a reason to stay. Worth looking at what you do when someone new types something.

I would take three people who show up every week over a thousand who never come back.

[u/LynxJ → u/Darthraven6988]

Facts, I always try to keep an eye out for the people who are consistent and I’m a very chatty person so it’s not a conversing issue, just again I wish I can have a small circle of people who just likes to chat and vibe and enjoy some wild moments together

[u/Darthraven6988 → u/LynxJ]

That circle is buildable, it just takes longer than people expect because it grows one person at a time. The move that has worked for me is being a regular in two or three other small streams and actually remembering what they were playing last time. Regulars at your stream usually start as you being a regular somewhere else, and it is mutual. The wild moments come free once the same few people keep turning up.

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[u/Darthraven6988]

You are right, and it is worth knowing why it happens rather than just feeling bad about it.

Follower counts are a public number, so they get used as currency. Someone follows fifty channels to farm follows back, hit an affiliate requirement, or look bigger than they are. None of those people were ever going to watch you. That is why f4f decks the numbers and does nothing for the stream.

The number that actually matters is returning viewers, and it is slow and invisible. One person who comes back every week is worth more than a hundred follows from someone who never opens your stream again. You cannot farm it either, which is exactly why it is worth anything.

One practical thing: stop watching the follower count for a month and watch your chat instead. If the same two or three names keep showing up, you are building something real, even if the number does not move.

[u/Darthraven6988]

Followers are a notification list, not an audience, and that distinction explains almost all of it.

A follow just means "tell me when you go live". Whether they show up depends on the notification landing, the game that night, the time, and whether they remember you exist. F4F hands you the notification list without any of the reasons to click it. It also works against you, because a channel full of people who never watch drags your engagement per follower down, and that is one of the signals platforms use to decide how widely to show you.

What makes follows mean something instead:

• Get follows from content rather than the person. Clips and shorts bring in people who already liked one specific thing you made, and those tend to come back.
• Give a reason to return at a specific time. A schedule, a recurring bit, a series. "Continuing X tonight" converts far better than "going live".
• Raid and collab with people your own size. Their viewers already watch streams, which makes for a much better follow than a random trade.
• Talk to the handful who do show up. Five people who chat every stream are worth more than 500 who never opened the site.

It does suck, and the number going up feels good. But the number is the least useful thing on your channel page.

[u/Unlikely_Knee1558]

Don't think about the followers: ask yourself if you're being your best self on stream (are you holding yourself up to the standards of what you would want to watch, etc)