When I achieved the first 100 followers, I was excited. When I reach my first 1000 followers, I was so excited that I [gifted 5 SBD to one lucky winner](https://steemit.com/giveaway/@ilyastarar/giving-away-5-steem-dollars-on-reaching-1000-followers-to-one-lucky-winner). My next aim was to share an update on 1500 followers but when I thought of writing a post, the count had already exceeded 1600. Then I waited for the figure of 2000 but same happened. My posts started exploding and so did the count of my followers. Both 2000 and 2500 milestones were passed in a flash. ![3000 Followers.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYRrg9viQaB34AMZZuZFYMb9pJ97Af81UGTx8u4fS2373/3000%20Followers.png) *Image designed via Canva.com and background image is free to use from the inbuilt gallery.* I am finally doing it on achieving the milestone of 3000 followers. This post will serve more as an educational guide on how to gain followers than just a celebration post. I remained slightly inactive for two days now so the number of followers increased steadily. I am thankful because I was able to capture the beautiful moment. ![IMG_20180214_184912.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXk6Z8EobZBdTcGouZA6qYcok5juc7MkvPxHwkXk6RhMG/IMG_20180214_184912.jpg) ## Is It Really an Achievement? But is it an achievement worth being proud of? Not really! Well, it is a great achievement but not under some circumstances. Some of the circumstances under which having a huge following—and this is my opinion based on experience—are listed below. * *You follow 18,000 random people, and 3000 of them follow you back.* * *You join some crappy follow4follow groups to get some following.* * *You have high SP in your wallet but never post anything. Since you never post, having a following doesn't matter to you.* * *You beg people to follow you (rookie mistake) and people who are doing worse than you follow you and ask you to follow back. Both parties gain a significant but useless folliwing.* My very early views about blind and mass following are recorded [here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@ilyastarar/4-things-you-should-stop-doing-on-steemit-immediately). I loved reading what I wrote 7 months ago because I don't feel even a word needs to be changed. It's a good advice if you are just beginning here on Steemit. ## How Did I Get This Much Following? It is not easy to get followers when you are not directly trying to get followers. By direct efforts, I mean requesting people to follow back etc. I do not do that. Most of my following has been indirect. Here's a quick summary of how I got so many followers. * *I create a valuable post.* * *People read it and appreciate it. If it's useful, they resteem it.* * *More people see my post. If they find my content useful, they follow me.* I have always focused on writing good content; content which is of some value to others. At this point in time, I am using following criteria to create content. 1. **First and foremost, my content should be valuable for my readers (followers or not). But it should not contradict with the point number two below.** 2. **Secondly, the content should be beneficial to the Steemit ecosystem. It should bring good results for the Steem blockchain. For example, this post is less like a celebration and more like an educational guide on how to gain a good following. It improves the system.** 3. **If I am covering a Steem based app or a Steemit based service, the post should benefit that app or service as well, because the service enhances Steemit experience.** 4. **Ultimately, the content should help me gain recognition, following, and rewards. It is the least consideration on my list. Generally, fulfilling the three conditions above automatically fulfills this one.** Lately, I have been strictly following this criterion and my content has brought massively positive results regarding all the points mentioned above. I do not wish to go into details of what has happened with my recent posts. You might have seen the $300, $400, $500 and $600+ rewards on my posts during the last three months. **But did you see the number of views and comments on them? Do you know that my following has been increasing at the rate of more than a hundred followers per day? Do you know that on average, making one post took more than ten hours spread over many days? You cannot appreciate the increase in my following if you do not take into account the amount of effort involved, the level of quality delivered and the number of people served with massively useful knowledge.** ## A Bit by Bit Recap of Followers Thanks to my excitement for getting new followers, I have so much saved on my blog and device in form of posts and screenshots. I am going to bring all the memories back for me and record them on the blockchain forever. I hope you will enjoy going through my little milestones. You will also observe an increase in reputation score and the number of posts all along. Let's begin. ![100 Followers Image](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://i.imgsafe.org/1457f5e4f2.jpg) *I shared the first milestone [here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@ilyastarar/thankful-to-and-for-my-first-100-followers-in-just-8-days-of-activity-on-steemit).* After getting 100 followers, I received [116 % increase in followers in just 4 days](https://steemit.com/steemit/@ilyastarar/followers-increased-by-116-in-just-4-days-and-why-steemians-are-the-best-community). ![500 Followers](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/appOS5H.jpg) *[The 500 Followers Post](https://steemit.com/steemit/@ilyastarar/500-followers-on-steemit)* ![1000 followers](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://img.esteem.ws/wvzyk7kbm2.jpg) ![IMG_20180217_153331.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQma3GRYo6ANVTx795cQxrkWigA4VZ6rWftLArs3RPgdzS1/IMG_20180217_153331.jpg) *Reached this milestone on 24 Dec, 2017.* ![IMG_1518864393284.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSk3SrHb4UQspxhLsC4sNQgvtRESaGpM41cnDaS3V1FFT/IMG_1518864393284.jpg) *And within a month, the next 500 were done.* ![IMG_20180217_153638.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVS5jdrjeeHHPxSXH1V5CxACHKkLQcnzSg445ncBZZ2Rr/IMG_20180217_153638.jpg) *22 Jan, 2018* ![IMG_20180201_200404.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQtCwMq91F781g7QSpUJMWQHxCP9abHAYu3ihVcv6supe/IMG_20180201_200404.jpg) *And just in 10 days, the next 500 were up too.* Right now, the count is nearing 3100. I hope to be active now and deliver the value I always believe in delivering. Right now, I have only one active post in last seven days because I could not do much about Steemit lately. With hard work and dedication, my followers have more than doubled in less than two months. I am thankful to each one of you any kind of support on the way. I hope you enjoyed going through my sweet little journey. I love every bit of it and I like to celebrate these little things with great joy. Part of the reason I am followed by people is that I have shared a lot of content of education value for my followers. I am attaching it below to help people learn whatever they may be looking for. > **As a standard feature of all my posts, I am listing all my previous work to help people find the required information or guidance. As I write more and update the previous work to add more value, the list will keep evolving. Feel free to share with people who need it; especially new members.**

Newbie Guides

Steem Guides

Steemit Tips & Advice

Advanced Understanding of Steemit

Steem Ecosystem Guides (Services Empowering Steemians)

*If you have any question, do share it in the comments. It would be kind of you to support this post through your valuable upvotes and resteems. Helping this post with upvotes will not only benefit the community at large but also will encourage me to put more effort into educating Steemians to create a better ecosystem on Steemit.* **Steem on!**