he promotes his books/courses/teatrical pieces/shows on social networks. Follower counts mean a lot to him, it is not "just socializing". (he has 23K on twitter) For the good or the bad, some measure of reach is useful for those who exploit social networks commercially.
How would he know if his work here is worthy his time?
I think relays should inform SOME stats about followers, whatever is possible, even if partial, and then the client could aggregate them.