Do you prefer followers you earn or followers from shoutouts?

I prefer earning them! I used to have a pretty big following back in the day from doing stop motion videos. Though, it's always good to get mentioned by others too, but I won't do a /follow for follow/ type thing.

 

I prefer earning them. I feel like shoutouts are cheating when it comes to trying to get a lot of followers, and I agree that most people who follow because of a shoutout only follow because they feel demanded to. When you earn a follower, it shows people are actually interested in what you post.

 

It doesn't make much of a difference to me. If you get a follower from a shoutout then you still earned that follower. That person could have clicked your username in that shoutout and looked around your profile/channel/whatever and decided that you suck and they didn't want to follow you, but they didn't. They liked your stuff enough to follow you. Sure, it was from a link they found in a shoutout, but they still didn't have to follow.

My point is that either way you earned the follower because whether they came from a shoutout or not they still liked whatever you do.

As for what you guys are saying about people only following because they feel obligated, maybe in some cases, but I highly doubt that is what happens the majority of the time. If it were real life and we were all standing there with our followers/potential followers then maybe, but we're not. We're all just sitting in front of our computers at home. I can honestly say I've never followed someone out of a feeling of obligation or just because I saw their name in a shoutout, and I kind of doubt any of you have. Maybe some overly nice people do it, but most people just aren't that nice, so I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that doesn't happen as often as some people think it does. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty comfortable with the guess that it doesn't.

 

Of course, earning them is a bit more rewarding for yourself, but that can be really difficult sometimes, especially when you're just getting started on something and nobody knows you yet. Getting a shoutout from someone might just be the little extra boost you need to really get into it. After that, I don't see a reason to continue doing shoutouts, but whatever, do what you want xD

 

One of the things that always irked me about social media is all the hype of "Promo / tell people about me! I'm almost to <insert milestone here> followers!"

It's like.. who cares, and why would you wanna gain followers that way?

I prefer just posting around, being myself, and if people wanna follow me, that's cool. -w-

 

I prefer earning followers more than shout-outs. I don't feel like I actually gain anything from a shout-out, seeing as the person giving it isn't actually interested in my work.

 

I literally think no one exists that would prefer to gain followers from shout-outs as opposed to earning them of their own accord. It's inherently just more rewarding it to be rewarded for something you've been working to achieve.

I wanted followers and thus people to talk and interact with on tumblr, so I started making original content and I gain a good amount every day now. I actually feel legitimately bad about asking for or receiving promos in all honesty.

 

I prefer to get them on my own, but there's nothing wrong with a shout out. Either way, it's rewarding that someone will look at my blog and go, "Hey, looks cool, I'll follow" and actually stay, regardless if it was random or from a shout out.

 

I don't ask for shoutouts, I do prefer followers that I earn myself. But if someone gives me a shoutout and people follow me because of it then hey, i'll take it.

 

Earning followers yourself has more meaning imo since the people actually follow you fro your content instead of because you know a person.