Why virality means nothing without trust
Sunday musings: How I went viral with 170 followers and what it taught me about building real connections in the attention economy.
A few weeks ago, I decided to run an experiment. It started with a simple question I had been hearing everywhere: “Follower count doesn’t matter anymore. Anyone can go viral.”
That is the gospel now, right? Creators have been showing what is possible with tiny audiences and powerful storytelling. So I decided to test it myself. No paid boost. No ad budget. No distribution network.
Just me, my phone, and my raw thoughts about the Singapore General Elections.
At the time, I had just 170+ followers on TikTok.
In 28 days, this happened:
1.9 million post views.
686,000 total viewers (628,000 of them brand new).
834 new followers.
My top video hit 318,000 views.
54,000 likes. 8,400 comments. 9,500 shares.
So yes, the hype is real. You can go viral, even with 100 followers.
That is the upside of the attention economy. Algorithms on platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn do not care how famous you are. They do not care about your resume or blue checkmark. They care about how you resonate. If your content strikes the right nerve, it gets shared, sometimes reaching millions.
However, there is one aspect that is often overlooked. Virality is not growth. Virality is a flash. Trust is the fire.
I have seen too many creators chase reach, only to end up exhausted and confused when the spike fades. Because reach without resonance is empty. And followers without connection are just numbers on a dashboard.
What we often fail to realise is that followers still matter, just not in the same way.
They are not your rocket fuel. They are the residue of resonance. They show up after you’ve said something that hit home.
They are your future clients, collaborators, and community members. They are the people who say, “I want to hear more from you.”
So while anyone can go viral, not everyone can convert. In today’s digital landscape, conversion does not necessarily mean sales; it means sustaining attention. It means someone is choosing to follow your story, not just your moment.
That is the real game. In the attention economy, your job is not to perform; it is to engage. It is to capture attention with clarity, and then convert it into a connection with consistency.
But you cannot do that if you are constantly chasing the next trend. You cannot do that if you do not know who you are speaking to or why your voice matters.
You need a system and a strategy. Because if you do not build your own platform, the algorithm will assign you one. And if you do not direct your attention with intention, you will become a product of someone else’s plan.
I believe in playing the long game. Follower count may not start your story, but it does carry it forward, primarily when your content is anchored in truth, not trends.
So the next time someone tells you, “Follower count doesn’t matter anymore,” ask them this: Are you building a moment? Or a movement?
Because movements are not built from viral spikes, they are constructed by trust, one follower at a time.
See you next Sunday.
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