You're right. I don't think I do too much of that here, but could probably whittle it down a bit better. Gonna spit out a poorly formed thought that I think is related. I remember when streaming was new, I had a weird anxiety about watching things different than what "everyone else" was watching, or out of synch with them. And I consider myself a bit of a non-conformist (more today than in the past, to be fair). I think there's a similar disorientation with people have with not following large accounts who pontificate about the topic du jour. how will I know what the larger world is thinking? won't I lose touch with the zeitgeist? Notice me, senpai! Anyway, think it's a version of that somewhat

There is something to be said about virality even without an algorithm. I pay attention to posts that explode and ones that don't. People are still subject to being sucked in to certain writing styles, content, and presentation. And humans are always subject to incentives. I think the big accounts learned how to write in a way that brings in more attention. If a post is too long, people and their short attention spans may not read it. If it's too short, it doesn't convey enough information. There is a sweet spot that grabs attention and resonates with people.

The more time you spend absorbing and pondering the zeitgeist the less time there is to form and be an authentic and unique you.

They are optimizing for attention instead of optimizing for quality. It isn't that they should change. They are lost, it's over. I'm pushing for you and my other followers to optimize your consumption for quality. Go out of your way to break the mental habits that cause you to fall into their trap and seek out quality.

Buddy what lit the current fire under you?

I've concluded that if you want to gain a large following, then you have to post cheerleading, belief-reinforcing, lowest common denominator stuff. The best accounts I've found usually have followers in the 100's.