Reader,

Don’t you just hate it when someone on Zuck’s internet claims to have an unpopular opinion…

Only to go ahead and share an opinion so popular, it could run for president?

If you do, that makes two of us.

Why do they do that though? Is it some form of engagement bait? If you want to share your opinion, just share it. Don’t tell us it’s unpopular when we all know it’s not.

Anyways, I hope I won’t have to eat my words after I share my (hopefully) unpopular opinion. And… you might be shocked to hear this one from me. Or not.

Here goes:

Virality is overrated.

And I’ll tell you why I think so in a bit.

Virality used to mean something. It used to be sacred. A special honor bestowed by the algorithm gods on whom they saw fit.

But it seems those gods are taking a nap, because now? it’s available to any and everyone if they can perform a few tricks. AKA hop on trends and use viral audios.

Just a few years ago, if you had 10,000 followers on Instagram, you were a celebbb (OG users know what I’m talking about.)

Having the ‘k’ alone at the back of your follower count was a status symbol. Brands were tripping over themselves in your DMs.

And then being able to add links to your stories? (oh, yes. that used to be a privilege you needed a 10k following and above to unlock.)

But now, everyone and their mother’s uncle’s daughter has gone viral. People now go viral by making viral videos about how to go viral.

I recently saw a video with over a million views, only to check and see that the creator had about 1,000 followers. 2019 Instagram could never.

And because virality has become more attainable than ever, coupled with the “influencer-ification” (it’s not a real word, I know) of social media, you can easily find a creator with 50k followers, over half of which don’t even realize that they’re following them.

Not because they were sleeping when they pressed the “follow” button*…

… but because there’s no real connection.

They saw a funny viral reel, checked out the creator, hit follow, and moved on with their life.

They don’t like or comment on their posts. Heck, they don’t even see 1/10th of the creator's posts on their feed.

If they were to bump into the creator at ICM, they wouldn't recognize them. And even if they do, they’d see no reason to walk up to them and say hi.

Which is why more than ever before, your follower count is nothing more than a vanity metric that looks good on a rate card.

Now, I’m not saying virality is bad. I’m not even saying I don’t want it.

But what actually matters (well, what has always mattered, and matters even more now) is community.

That is, a close-knit group of people who genuinely love and interact with your work.

Whose faces light up whenever they see your posts.

Who send “Hey Reader, are you fine?” to your DM when you haven’t posted anything in a while.

And tell you what, I believe it’s better to have a community of 5,000 of such people… than a 50,000 following gotten through cheap tricks and viral trends.

Even brands now prefer to work with “micro-influencers” with strong communities than big figure creators with no close bond with their audience.

But how do you build that kind of community, especially in 2026?

Stories. The right ones, told the right way.

The kind that’ll make them love you so much, they’ll want to tattoo your name on their neck.

And in my storytelling workshop, I’ll show you how to do exactly that (no, not the tattoo part). How to tell the right stories that’ll turn a bunch of strangers into a community of superfans who love everything you create.

Up till Friday 20th March, you can get in for a whopping 40% off.

After that, the price goes up, never to come down again.

If you want in, grab your spot here.

I’ll see you in class.

Fayo

PS: If you need any help while signing up, let me know! Just reply to this email and I’ll be glad to help you out.

*PPS: there could be that too though. I once mistakenly followed someone I didn’t even know, and was wondering why their posts were appearing on my feed later that day. but at least I wasn’t sleeping when it happened.

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