Twitter teems with offers through which you can buy followers by the thousand. This seems the social media equivalent of the sub-prime financing of mortgages
A few months ago I started tweeting more regularly. This relatively harmless occupation was rewarded as I connected with a small number of discriminating tweeters who followed me, and I them. Tit-for-tat following was part of social media practice. It also explains how ‘like attracts like’. My followers and following grew steadily month by month. The scale was still manageable.