I don’t think people are tired of social media itself. I think people are tired of how it feels to be on it. Being on social media has started to feel like too much effort for too little return.

You open Instagram, and within seconds, you’re being taught something, corrected on something, warned about something, or asked to take a position on something you hadn’t even thought about yet.

It’s only a few posts down before you come across a carousel explaining a concept you’ve understood for years. A countdown to a downloadable guide you didn’t ask for. A post reacting to a post reacting to another post.

It’s not offensive. It’s just… a lot.

Social media used to feel like you were dropping into someone’s world. You’d land on their page and immediately get a sense of what they were about. What they read. What they liked. Who they were speaking to.

The photos weren’t perfect, but the captions had personality. If you stayed, it was because something interesting might happen.

Now it feels more like walking into a PowerPoint presentation that never ends.

Even thought leaders seem to be diluting themselves to keep up. They’re reacting to every little repost, stitch and response.

After a while, it stops feeling stimulating and starts feeling overwhelming. Too much information, too little meaning. You leave not because you’re bored, but because you’re exhausted.

When Numbers Stopped Meaning What they Used To

There was a point where growing numbers in your following meant you were on a fast track to becoming the next Molly Mae, a fast track to success.

If you hit 100,000 followers, people spoke about you differently, and all you were doing was baking cupcakes from your kitchen, filming your morning routine, or posting outfit photos in your bedroom.

Even reaching 10K, where you actually get the little ‘K’ next to the number, meant you were a big shot, a somebody. That number came with an unofficial assumption that something bigger was coming your way, and you may just be able to secure that luxury apartment in Chelsea. Brand deals. Media attention.

But algorithms became easier to work out. Posting is seamless. Numbers can grow very quickly without anyone really knowing why they’re there.

And that’s changed how large followings feel.

A large following now often means having a wide range of people with different values, different levels of interest and different expectations.

People who followed for entirely different reasons, often years apart, all grouped under one count.

And to stay relevant to everyone, you end up speaking in the safest possible language as you try to keep everyone happy. You can’t talk to everyone, and any attempts to do so will result in your message being diluted and never truly reaching the person you intended it to.

You gain in volume, but you often lose in definition.

This doesn’t mean that large followings aren’t meaningless. But they no longer automatically signal authority, influence or taste. The pages I stumble across these days, if they’re not saturated with infographics, they’re plastered with product.

From Audience to Community

The shift has now become a solid formula in an anonymous audience, or monitoring spirits, as they are better known, lurking usually out of habit but not feeling any real connection.

An audience is anonymous. A community isn’t.

An audience watches and scrolls on for the next hit of dopamine, while a community responds with intrigue, remembers, challenges, and stays.

That’s why smaller followings are now valued differently than they were even as little as five years ago. Having fewer than 5,000 followers on your page doesn’t look like you’re struggling. You look like someone who knows who they’re speaking to and has a refined message for your community. I’d even go so far as to say that having under 1,000 makes you appear even more credible.

It’s discretion. It’s niche. It’s refinement.

Think about it like this. Imagine you’re speaking at a packed conference of 1,000 women about health and wellness versus hosting a dinner with twelve women who are all passionate about classical Pilates, or who all read the same books, or who care about (fill in the blank) on a deeper level.

One group is vague, the other is focused.

And while the desire for community grows stronger, most women would rather sit with:

100 women who are serious about social justice
100 women who are passionate about astrology
100 women who care about self-mastery and confidence building
100 women who read, reference, disagree, and analyse

than address hundreds of thousands of people who are loosely interested and mostly just passing through.

A smaller community means you rarely ever have to overexplain yourself every time you speak, even if you’re teaching, because you are either surrounded by the women who ‘get it’ or the women who have a burning desire to understand it.

You can start in the middle of a thought. You can assume a certain level of comprehension. You can build your own world, and your citizens will engage.

These kinds of spaces are rare, which is exactly why they’re becoming desirable.

Why Fewer Voices Feel Better Create a Stronger Message

When there are too many voices, conversation becomes reactive. People are in a hurry to get their point across because the environment doesn’t allow for the reward of patience.

On the other hand, smaller spaces have the capacity for deeper discussion.

You can say something unfinished, and then change your mind. You can disagree without needing to win. You can follow a thought over weeks instead of squeezing it into one post.

This is why private clubs such as Selene, reading groups, run clubs, and invite-only dinners have always mattered. Not because they’re gatekeeping or trying to keep people out, but so that people who are genuinely interested in the concept have a space for their peak interest and their thoughts to develop.

As I said, you can’t talk to everyone without watering down the message. Unfortunately, not everything benefits from being public.

The Return of Proximity

Anyone who can see what is happening to the world of ‘celebrity’ and still wants in may need their head testing.

Fame is no longer sexy. In fact, I’d give it a 1-star rating. Very rough. Wouldn’t recommend

Hollywood is crumbling, stars are being thrown in jail, and even popular influencers are scrambling for views as the numbers on their profiles and in their bank accounts dry up.

It’s not enough to be known by everyone, you need to be known by the right people.

In real life, the conversations that matter aren’t happening in the middle of the room. They happen after most people have left. In a WhatsApp group. In places where you don’t need to explain who you are before you speak.

Online, it’s the same.

Proximity means you’re in spaces where people already understand you, they understand who you are, what you’re building, the vision, they see it, and they want to be part of the program. You’re not constantly reintroducing yourself. You’re not explaining your values every week. Your presence makes sense there.

That’s what feels appealing now.

Especially if you’ve built a career, a business, or a reputation. You don’t want every thought turned into content or stitched as a think piece by someone who hasn’t done any further work than what they saw in a 30-second TikTok post. You don’t want everything you say taken out of context or interpreted by people who were never meant to be part of the conversation.

It’s about choosing where you actually belong.

Who Will Benefit From This Shift

Of course, this entire conversation may mean nothing to those who use social media for personal use with a following of mainly family, friends and the odd acquaintance.

However, those who will benefit strongly from this shift will be anyone from the small business owner of a lash brand to anyone wanting to become a voice of value in the digital space.

Instead of trying to speak to everyone, you can create a room. Instead of chasing numbers, you can build relevance with people who actually care.

It works for women who:

Have something to say but don’t want to perform constantly
Want engaging and exciting conversation, not spectators
Care about longevity and sustainability more than visibility

And don’t be fooled, a smaller following doesn’t mean smaller impact. It often means clearer positioning, aligned clients, and, in some cases, making genuine life-long friends.

Finally…

Large followings aren’t going anywhere. They still have power, reach, along with marketing and commercial value. They’re just no longer the automatic goal.

What feels aspirational now is community. Choosing who gets access to your thinking. Choosing where your attention goes. Choosing the rooms that actually make sense for you and the people who choose to invest their time, money and energy there.

Scale is supreme, but we’re at a point where we also understand that significance and size are no longer the same thing.

And once you see that clearly, it becomes very hard to want the old version back.

Why Large Followings Are Losing Their Appeal