Nobody Follows an Account That Only Talks to Itself

I spent my first few months on X posting whatever came to mind and wondering why nobody followed back.

Some days it was a thought and some days a quote and some days a random update about my day. Every post made sense to me because I was the one who wrote it. That was the problem. I was writing to myself and posting it where other people could see.

Then I started watching what I do when I follow someone and it changed how I write.

Think about the last account you followed. You did not follow it because it existed. A post or two told you that the next time you open the app there will be something in it for you. A follow is a small bet on the next visit.

Data is expensive for a lot of us and attention costs even more. When someone spends either one on your post you owe them something back.

After a lot of watching I think a follow comes from one of five promises.

You will make me smarter. I learn something small that I can use today, like the fix for an error that ate your whole afternoon.

You will make me laugh. I need a break and your post gives it to me, like a joke about a bug that only developers understand.

You will help me earn. I see a way to get paid or get hired or find a client.

You will make me feel less alone. You say what I have been thinking and never posted, like how strange it feels to build for months while nobody watches.

You will show me how by doing it. I watch you build and I learn the path.

Most people fail because their posts make no promise at all. A thought or a quote or a random update gives the reader nothing to come back for. They enjoy it for a second and the scroll carries them away.

From what I have watched the accounts that grow fastest pick one promise and keep it every single day. Teach one thing. Show one build. Share one honest mistake. After a few weeks people know what they get from you and following you becomes an easy decision.

You do not have to pick the promise that sounds best. Pick the one you can keep on your worst day. If you are building something right now you already have material for the fifth promise. If you just solved a bug you have material for the first.

Your first line has to carry the promise because that is all a fast scroll gives you. Here is a post that talks to the writer.

Here is the same effort pointed at the reader.

The first one is true and gives the reader nothing. The second one promises a fix for something they are about to meet. Same writer and same week and a very different reason to follow.

Try this tonight. Open your last ten posts and write next to each one which of the five promises it made. Count the ones where you had to write none. That count is usually where the problem sits.

Before you write picture one real person reading it. A developer on a phone in Lagos or Port Harcourt with a small data bundle left and ten minutes to spare. Is your post worth those ten minutes to that person?

One more thing and please do not skip it. Do not chase views to feel good. Views come from the crowd and followers come from trust. Ten people who read every post will do more for you than a thousand who scrolled past.

So before you post today ask yourself one question. What does the person reading this walk away with? If you cannot answer in one line rewrite it until you can.