Engagement

1,000 True Fans, 15 Years Later: What Still Works?

Why Kevin Kelly’s viral “1,000 true fans” essay is more relevant than ever.

The 1,000 true fans rule, coined by WIRED founding editor Kevin Kelly, debuted in 2008. Image via layers feature in Canva

Your brand doesn’t need followers. It needs fans.

In 2019, Arianna Renee learned this the hard way. At eighteen years old, she had amassed 2.6 million followers on Instagram, and wanted…