After 5+ years on Medium, I'm pretty confident that a follower is a mythical creature - like Big Foot or an actual Unicorn. A few months ago I had a great streak of boosted stories - which came with lots of new followers. I was happy. Within 15 minutes all of them went quiet. Never saw them again. Where'd they go? Into Medium's algorithm graveyard apparently, along with all my skills and talent - because nothing good has happened since. Funny how you're intuitive, capable, and a skilled wordsmith one day and, poof - the next day, a hack.

I agree with you, followers are like those little gold stars the teacher used to stick on our papers. They make us feel good for a few minutes and then it passes.