The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media

Marketers commonly seed information about products and brands through individuals believed to be influential on social media, which often involves enlisting micro influencers, users who have accumulated thousands as opposed to millions of followers (i.e., other users who have subscribed to see that individual’s posts). Given an abundance of micro influencers to choose from, cues that help distinguish more versus less effective influencers on social media are of increasing interest to marketers. The authors identify one such cue: the number of users the prospective influencer is following. Using a combination of real-world data analysis and controlled lab experiments, they show that following fewer others, conditional on having a substantial number of followers, has a positive effect on a social media user’s perceived influence. Further, the authors find greater perceived influence impacts engagement with the content shared in terms of other users exhibiting more favorable attitudes toward it (i.e., likes) and a greater propensity to spread it (i.e., retweets). They identify a theoretically important mechanism underlying the effect: following fewer others conveys greater autonomy, a signal of influence in the eyes of others.