Thesis: a web of trust based social network wouldn't have a reliable "global" follower / like / etc count -- it would only be the ones you've seen -- and this would be a feature.
Some of the most toxic behavior on Twitter comes from people trying to become "the most popular person in the room", which also leads to a lot of social messaging which isn't about being constructive, but differentiating yourself in a way that makes you look better than others.
By having a public follower count, *everyone* (yes, even you, yes even me) is gamed into comparing whether your follower count is higher than others, whether others got more likes / shares / etc than you.
This isn't a good basis for thoughtful communication.
@cwebber it also encourages some people to try and keep amount of people they follow smaller than amount of people following them. And of course talking people not doing that having "wrong ratio"
@tuturto Could you imagine a world where you decided to not subscribe to 20 comic rss feeds or a few more podcasts because you were afraid it would screw up your follower ratio?
@cwebber or where you decide listen to fewer people than you talk to, for the same reason?