The term "follower." Not sure I like it. As the song says, "I am not a leader of men."
When people give me the check mark, I hope it's because I entertain or inspire them in some way. Maybe they've found some common ground we can stand on. I think that's cool.
If I have clicked the follow button, I find you interesting... and for more than your boobs. (Sorry to shatter your dreams, @dmaggot, but yer bewbs are not your be-all, end-all.) Besides, I'm a middle aged guy. There's a stigma against following 20-something girls around... hell, anyone, actually.
I can follow a body of work, sure. I can follow a daily or occasional blog. I can follow people, but that implies and creates a disconnection and a certain apathetic distance. Maybe I'm just too touchy feely, but I don't feel like I can call the people who care enough to listen to what I say, "followers."
I'd rather call them friends.
Now for some, the term "friend" may be too personal. A person one has never had face-time with, to some, cannot be truly called a friend. There is a sacred place that one reserves for true friends, and it is sacrosanct. Others may be too anxious to let anyone closer than the arms' reach security that the internet provides. I understand that, and that's cool.
So the terms "follower" and "friend," in essence are not close enough together, and not interchangeable, and both are imperfect for the purposes of personal interaction on this site. "Follower" really seems the most appropriate, in terms of the average relation factor.
But it still doesn't sit quite right with me. So, ultimately, follower is all right, but I think I'll just treat you all like friends, like you understand the bag of cats that is my head; like you get the slew of derivative, vague tripe that is the bread and butter of my jokes. Or, at the very least, that you get the fact that I'm a weirdo.
So yeah. I'm going to just consider you all friends. Some more distant than others, but friends all the same. And I hope that you will all trust that being your friend is my intention here.
Like they say, "Come for the boobs, stay for the community."
