I strongly believe that watchers on FA aren’t as valuable as people think—at least, not in the same way that subscribers are valuable on YouTube.

Why Watchers Don’t Hold Much Value
For some reason, FA doesn’t even display a user’s watcher count prominently. You’d think it would be shown next to the date they joined, but no—you have to scroll past their shouts to even see the number. And at that point, who cares?

Why? Because FA prioritizes the art itself over follower numbers. A quick glance at someone’s gallery is enough to decide if they’re worth your time, unlike YouTube, where video quality isn’t always obvious until you actually watch something. That’s why subscriber count matters more on YouTube—it acts as a quick signal of credibility.

Favorites Are More Valuable Than Watchers
Unlike watchers, favorites are displayed prominently on someone’s page under the Favorites tab. In fact, if you scroll down a user’s profile, you’ll see what they’ve favorited before you even see their watcher count.

Favorites are one of the best ways to discover new artists because:

Browsing someone’s favorites exposes you to multiple different artists in just minutes.
If a person has favorited multiple pieces by the same artist, you get a better sense of that artist’s style, increasing the chance of gaining interest in them.
There are three main ways to find new art on FA (aside from the browse section):

Seeing an artist’s work offsite and following the link.
Using the search bar to find specific content.
Browsing someone’s favorites—which, I’d argue, is the most common.
If you’re reading this, comment below and tell me how you found my page—I’d love to see if my theory holds up.

The Power of Favoriting
But what really makes favorites more valuable than watchers is their infectious nature:

I favorite something.
You see it and favorite it.
Someone else sees it through you and favorites it.
The cycle continues, spreading an artist’s work far and wide.
Favorites are a means of not only supporting peoples pages, but supporting any artists said pages have taken commissions from. As favoriting a commission from a commissionees page not only helps spread their page, but it also advertises the artist who made the commission/adopt/ych.
This organic "pollination" of art is why I disagree with those who private their favorites. That said, I understand if someone’s embarrassed about what they favorite and doesn’t want to share it.

Final Thoughts
People have told me that watchers matter more than favorites, but I strongly disagree. I can favorite a few of your posts and help spread them around, but if your overall gallery doesn’t appeal to me, I’m not watching. And no amount of asking will change that.

But you are very welcome for the favs. <3