Yeah, but that's the Catch-22 I mean. You have to already be popular, to have popular content. That's why follow lists have been getting more and more similar, with recommended or trending content often being the same 5 people over and over, with every post they make.

Gigantic bifurcation in the number of followers (200k versus 20), is the cause, and we can't end the cycle until we figure out how to surface unpopular-but-interesting content. 

 I mean, "popular" can be defined in many ways.   It's really a matter of implementation. It can be absolute, but it could also be adjusted in terms of time/follower number etc. it's really a matter of implementation and what is wanted.