I think it would only be a Ponzi if social media shout-outs were zero-sum. But they're not. I can tell my audience to check out your stuff, you tell your audi

I think it would only be a Ponzi if social media shout-outs were zero-sum. But they're not. I can tell my audience to check out your stuff, you tell your audience to check out my stuff, and there's the potential for mutual benefit. Maybe some disengaged people in my audience engage much more with your content. Or maybe our followers just spend more time on Tiktok overall, or more time on our Tiktoks as opposed to other peoples' Tiktoks. Another point is the rich get richer on social media. Having followers is how you gain followers. Social proof is important. People like to talk about what everyone else is talking about. Once a new client reaches critical mass, they're going to passively gain followers due to this effect (e.g. creators with more followers are more likely to be recommended by the platform -- at least I would assume this is generally the case). So adding in a new client and gaining followers for them is an investment in the long term. I think YC companies buying services from each other could be a good analogy actually.