If you have followers & you are nice enough to stop by & at least say hello to them, but they never respond, does anyone ever knock them off their list? I feel bad but I'm sorry if you are going to take the time to hit that "Follow me" button, & I actually say HELLO, the least you can do is respond lol!
I just saw "following" someone as a quick way of making sure you see their posts. I don't click the follow button, I scan new posts for interesting subjects and posts by people I have found interesting. So I follow mentally rather than by clicking the button.
I can see why you'd feel that way. Personally I follow people because I'm interested in what they have to say. It's nice if they're "social" as well but I think of it as more of a "fan" relationship than an acquaintance relationship.
I am not offended either way. Sometimes I follow because I am interested. Usually I follow because I like the way that persons mind is working, the posts they make.
No one, yet, has stopped to say "hiyas" because I am following them and... no, I don't take offense. In no small part because I rarely go look at my profile and thus don't really know who is following me... maybe I should go check!
I make no assumptions about any aspects of anyone's online behavior.
Those who do are, IMHO, making a very limiting error.
I've never paid any attention to those features in any social media site.
Once when she was still in high school my stepdaughter mentioned that she had hundreds of FaceBook friends. I said, "you DO realize those aren't actual friends, right"? And she looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head.
Now a half dozen years later I think she figured out the truth of what I said, but she still takes it way more seriously than I think she should.
Well okay I'm not saying I have NO social media "friends" (contacts, people, CONTACTS, not friends). But I don't have any expectations of them. I'm not offended if they unfriend me, or don't talk to me.
I entered this site not expecting to even get followers. I just never thought I’d be that interesting people would want to follow. Usually I respond back if someone was kind enough to say anything as long as they aren’t a weirdo.
Rats! Being as weird at they come, I am right out!
It's not really something I pay attention to a lot. It just seems more like a form of compliment indicating they like what you have to say. If people wanna say hi and strike up a conversation I'm all ears, otherwise it's not a big deal if they remain silent.