nobody needs to follow you anymore, and thats why your reels get views and no follows
everyone is asking why the views are fine and the follows are dead, and i think the answer is boring and structural, not the algorithm punishing anyone.
think about why you used to follow an account. you followed so you would see their stuff again. that was the entire deal. now the feed serves you whatever it wants either way, and if that person makes another good video you will probably get shown it regardless. so following costs the viewer a slightly messier feed and gives them almost nothing back. the trade stopped making sense.
which means "follow for more" is asking people to pay for something they already get for free. no wonder it quietly stopped working.
the follows that still happen look different to me. people follow when they want to find you again on purpose. not to receive you, to locate you. thats a completely different job and it needs a different reason. a series where they want the next part. a name for the thing you do. something on the profile that signals there is more of this and its organised, not just one good video and then vibes.
heres the part im not certain about and would like people to push back on. if this is right, two accounts making equally good videos should convert views into follows at wildly different rates depending on whether theres a recognisable recurring thing on the profile, and hook quality should barely matter for the follow specifically. it obviously still matters for the view. so if you run a series or a named format, does your follow rate look different from your one off posts? id like to know if this holds up or if im talking nonsense.