 | This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: The number of fans or followers a subject has is irrelevant in a deletion discussion. Notability determines if an article is kept. |
In many deletion discussions, the number of fans, followers or "friends" (in the Facebook sense of the word) the subject of a biographical article has accumulated is brought up as an argument. This information is irrelevant and citing it ought to be considered an argument to avoid.
Being notable on Wikipedia requires significant coverage in independent reliable sources. Why? Because Wikipedia is not a random collection of information or a business directory or a web or blog hosting service, it's an encyclopedia. There's a reason why you need more than just a one-off event to make you notable and there's a reason you shouldn't create articles about crap you just made up.
Having thousands or hundreds of thousands of people willing to click "Like" on a page may be an indication that a subject is notable but does not in itself make a subject notable: the standard notability criteria apply interpreted through the lens of community consensus. Having lots of people willing to read your posts may be because you are Barack Obama, but the reason Obama is notable is because he was the President of the United States, not because of how many followers he has. The fact that a reality show contestant has lots of Instagram likes doesn't mean they have enduring historical and cultural significance in the same way Jane Austen or Jawaharlal Nehru or John F. Kennedy do.