<b>Connections and followers don't reach the same way — and people swap them</b>

<b>Connections and followers don't reach the same way — and people swap them</b>

Everyone says: "Hit the 30k connection cap, then switch everyone to followers — same reach, bigger number."

The claim: connections and followers are interchangeable distribution fuel.

What's actually true: a connection is a two-way edge — the model knows you interact mutually, which weights their feed toward you. A follower is one-way and weaker by default. When accounts blow past the connection cap and pile on cold followers, average tie-strength drops, and so does seed engagement. The big number hides a weaker network.

The nuance nobody mentions: 5,000 connections who reply beat 50,000 followers who don't, because the model trusts reciprocity.

Tested alternative: prune dead connections, engage your real ones, and stop treating follower count as a strictly-better connection.

It's not the size of the network. It's how many edges actually fire.