[Blog Post] Thank you for 200 followers! Shock, confusion, and organizing my thoughts

First of all, to everyone who followed me and everyone who always reads my articles, thank you once again. Thanks to you all, I have reached 200 followers!

Having said that, I actually reached 200 followers around the time I was creating the article for reaching 100 followers (lol). A sudden rush of follows occurred right around the time I was approaching 100 followers. In this article, I would like to focus on my feelings regarding that and the causes (or methods?) behind the rush.

First, my honest impression is that I was happy to reach 200 followers. So many people are interested in my articles, accessing them, and giving me likes and follows. I was just happy to see visible proof that everyone is accessing my work.

On the other hand, I also had some questions. "Why did a sudden follow rush happen?" "Did I do something to make it go viral?" "Is this... something bad?" My recent posts weren't particularly eye-catching; I was just posting AI-generated articles as usual. Despite that, a large number of likes and follows occurred all at once in a short period.

It would be fine to just end the story with "I'm happy my followers increased all at once!", but I am curious about the mechanism of "how a follow rush happens," and I even harbor a faint hope that if I understand the "cause," it might be possible to turn it into a "method."

Without further ado, I want to investigate the cause. As for the means of investigation... this is exactly when I use ChatGPT (lol). Usually, I take the bold approach of posting the content ChatGPT gives me in response to my questions almost exactly as is. I have a commitment to not adding my own touch because I "don't want to interfere with the content ChatGPT is trying to convey from reaching the readers accurately." However, this time, since there are some parts of the response that "seem to apply" to my case and some that "don't seem to apply," I will introduce them one by one along with an explanation of whether they "seem to apply to my case."

Q: My follower count on Note suddenly surged, what are the possible causes?

A: That's a good question. When your
follower count suddenly surges on Note (note.com), there are several possible causes. I have organized the "common patterns" into 7 perspectives below👇

1. You were featured in the trending/recommended section

• When you are featured in "Featured Creators" or "Recommended Articles," you can gain dozens to hundreds of followers in a single day.

• In particular, you will see a surge if you appear in the top of tag or genre rankings (e.g., "Thinking," "Diary," "Creative"). 🟢How to check: Go to My Page → "Analytics" → "Traffic" and check if traffic from "Within Note" has increased.
  

↑ Possibility of this applying: ★★★★☆

Regarding this, during the follow rush period, a like rush was also occurring on my pinned article at the same time. It is possible that for some reason, my pinned article was featured in the recommendations, caught the eyes of many users, and led to the like rush and follow rush.

2. You were introduced by a popular account or in a curation article

• If other creators quote, mention, or repost (share) your article, their followers will flow in.

• It grows rapidly, especially when posts like "So-and-so's note really hit home" are spread on X (Twitter), etc. 🟢How to check: Check the analytics screen to see if "External Traffic" or "SNS Traffic" has surged.
  

↑ Possibility of this applying: ★★★★☆

Regarding this, during the follow rush period, a user added my pinned article to their magazine. They were a user with 4-digit followers, and the number of articles registered in their magazine was approaching 5 digits. It is quite possible that people learned about my article and me through that magazine, leading to the like rush and follow rush.

🔶3. You went viral on X (Twitter) or other SNS

• When a post with a link to a note article is spread, a flow of reader → profile → follow occurs.

• Instead of saying "I've updated my note," it is more effective to use a format where you "quote and introduce a part of the text."
  🟢 How to check: Check X notifications, impression counts, and quote reposts.

↑ Probability of this applying: ☆☆☆☆☆

Regarding this, at that time I was not using X (Twitter), and the only SNS I was using were Instagram and YouTube (is that an SNS?). Both were just for video posts and I wasn't doing things like introducing Note articles, so it's safe to say there is almost zero possibility of an increase in access via SNS.

4. note platform algorithm update

• Sometimes note itselfadjusts the logic for recommended displays and follow suggestions, which can lead to a temporary increase in followers.

• In particular,accounts with high activity frequencyare more likely to be favored.

↑ Probability of this applying: ★★★★☆

Regarding this, in the period just before the follow rush, I posted all the interactions I had accumulated with ChatGPT (around 30 articles) at once as AI-generated articles, so it is possible that the note algorithm judged this as "high activity frequency!" and increased the exposure of my articles and account.

5. "Follow chain" between followers

• A case where other people see someone who followed you, visit your profile thinking "Who is this?", and then follow you in a chain reaction.

• This is more likely to happen when people with common tags or similar worldviews gather.

↑ Probability of this applying: ★★★☆☆

Regarding this, I don't have any concrete proof or hunch that it "definitely applies." However, it is not impossible that a follow chain like the one above occurred without me noticing. Therefore, I will split the difference and set the probability at about 50%.

6. Follower acquisition campaigns or bots

• Very rarely,automatic follow botsormutual follow campaignscan cause a temporary increase in follower count.

• If there are many accounts with thin icons or post content, this is a possibility.
  🟠 Note: You may be unfollowed a few days later.

↑ Probability of this applying: ★★☆☆☆

Regarding this, first of all, when I searched for "automatic follow bot" on Google, many words like "deprecated" and "prohibited items" came up, so I can say the possibility is almost zero. As for "mutual follow campaigns," just like the "follow chain" mentioned above, it is not impossible that users were running such campaigns without me noticing, so if I had to choose between "yes" or "no," I would say "barely yes."

7. Attention related to paid articles/memberships

• If a paid article is featured in "Popular Paid Notes" or if the launch of a membership is spread, followers will also increase rapidly due to the sense of trust.

↑ Possibility of this applying: ☆☆☆☆☆

Regarding this, since I haven't posted a single paid article at this point, the possibility is definitely "zero".

To summarize the information above:

△ The possibility of being followed due to "promotion on other social media," "inclusion in popular paid articles," or "automated follow bots" is "zero."

◯ The possibility of "follow chains between followers" or "mutual follow campaigns" is "a possibility."

◎ The possibility of "appearing in trends or recommendations," "being introduced by popular accounts or summary articles," or "Note's algorithm updates" is "quite high."

That is what it comes down to.

Furthermore, if I were to arrange the three most likely items in chronological order, it would probably look like this:

1. By posting many articles, the Note algorithm judged me as an "active creator," making my articles and creator profile more likely to be exposed in recommendations, etc.

2. Because it became easier to appear in recommendations, there were more opportunities for my articles and creator profile to catch the eyes of many users, and as a result, I met users who added my articles to their magazines.

3. By having my articles added to magazines, the opportunities for my articles to be accessed increased further, which led to a rush of 'likes' and follows.

In other words, to put it very simply, it comes down to "increasing the number and frequency of posts" (lol).

However, through this investigation, I feel like I have deepened my understanding of the mechanism of "how increasing the number and frequency of posts leads to a rush of 'likes' and follows."

If we are talking simply about the method, it is "let's increase the number of posts," but in terms of mindset, it might be better to have the attitude of "let's become a creator chosen by the algorithm and users by increasing the number of posts."

So, this time, I developed the article from the perspective of "converting the cause of a buzz into a method." If I had just ended the story with "I'm happy I went viral!", I might not have been able to expect future growth (lol).

Based on this recent rush, I would like to continue to devote myself to improving even further.

Next is the 300-follower milestone. Actually... I have already reached 300 followers (lol). Even after reaching 200, my followers have been increasing little by little. Once again, thank you to my followers. I haven't decided what kind of article I'll write for that yet, so I would appreciate it if you could give me some time!