🦅 From 0 to 10K Followers in 2025

In this issue, you’ll find:

• How to break free from the learning loop

• News creators should know

• Will AI steal market share from social media?

The Road to 10,000 Followers in 2025

Keith Sakata is a psychiatrist. 

He wanted more visibility online, not for vanity, but to expand what he calls his “luck surface.” The more people who know you, the more chances you create for great opportunities.

He started with a newsletter. But newsletters have two big limits:

1. A weak feedback loop. Unless you already have thousands of subscribers, you send, wait, and maybe a few readers reply. It’s slow to learn what works.

2. A closed network. Newsletters live behind an invisible wall. Your readers can hear you, but non-readers can’t. And it’s hard for readers to pull new people in. The communication is mostly one-to-one, not many-to-many.

Keith realized that to accelerate his growth, he needed a platform where visibility wasn’t capped by his existing list.
So, in June 2025, he moved to 𝕏. This was his first tweet:

His first step: figure out a niche (ofc 😅). But he didn’t sit around “choosing.”
He tested. He started replying to big accounts across topics where he had expertise.

The question was simple: where do my words spark engagement?

When he commented, he didn’t settle for “Nice post.” He crafted thoughtful responses. He strived to be one of the first commenters to get noticed by these bigger accounts and gain extra visibility. That meant waking up earlier and carving out 30–60 minutes each morning to show up consistently.

Within a couple of months, the social media flywheel started to play in his favor.

Every sharp comment gave his own posts a bit more visibility. That made him more relevant in the eyes of bigger accounts, who were now incentivized to interact with him. And in turn, this gave him even more visibility.

Within four months, Keith had 10,000 followers. But the real win was the network. He met startup founders, collaborated with new partners, and even connected with national journalists. 

None of this would have happened if he’d stayed boxed inside the invisible wall of his newsletter.

Keith's Content Strategy

The written format suited his time constraints: short posts, regular replies, and threads built with storytelling.

His threads are clearly where he shines the most. They work primarily because he focuses not just on the hook, but also on the second tweet in which he tries to introduce conflict and consolidate the readers' attention.

He uses Hypefury to craft and manage his content to save time and make sure his account is always active.
On top of that, Hypefury's analytics help him understand which posts perform better and generate more engagement.

The Bigger Lesson

Contrary to what many new creators fear, growing on 𝕏 is still possible, and faster than ever if you approach it with the right habits. In just 4 months, Keith went from zero to 10K, and that visibility opened doors he could never have planned for: collaborations, partnerships, and even a CNN interview.

The path is there. You just have to start walking it.

The First Real Shot at Killing Smartphones

At Meta Connect 2025, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display: smart glasses that run Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, live translations, and maps, all powered by an onboard AI.

The standout feature is the Meta Neural Band, a wristband that reads hand signals straight from your brain using sEMG. With $70B sunk into Reality Labs since 2020, Meta is betting these glasses could one day replace your phone.

→ Find out more

YouTube Rolls Out New Tools for Brand Deals and Shopping

At its Made on YouTube event, YouTube announced swappable sponsorship slots in long-form videos and AI-powered product tagging that auto-displays items when mentioned.

Its Shopping program is expanding to more creators and markets, such as Brazil, with GMV up 5 times year-over-year. Shorts creators now get brand links, and Google Ads will suggest brand-collab opportunities directly.

→ Find out more

Want to Show Up in AI Answers? Build Real Authority

AI search favors brands with consistent authority and authentic signals. That means publishing expertise-driven content on your site and in trusted outlets, as well as joining conversations on Reddit, LinkedIn, and forums where models source information.

Offline credibility, built through conferences, influencer collaborations, and data-backed research, matters too. The stronger your authority, the more AI will cite you.

→ Find out more

Last poll: Will AI kill newsletters?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No, newsletters will adapt and thrive (62.50%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes, AI will replace them entirely

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Curated newsletters will struggle

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Too early to tell

That’s it for now, everyone! We’ll meet again next week to discuss some more of this!

Don’t forget to try Hypefury (for free) if you haven’t yet.

Feel free to reply to this email. It goes directly to me.

Cheers,

Yannick Veys
Co-founder and CMO of Hypefury