It would be interesting to see the difference if your follower count maxed out at something like the Dunbar number: aka150. You would know you have connection to some people to know the thing works, but no one would be able to discuss numbers beyond that.
Perhaps it would not be great for companies trying to sell stuff because they cant tell the marketing department the numbers but then again I thought the early internet was better in many ways than the over commercialised mess we have now.