Thanks for the explanation. It's a real pity though..
Basically the only way to be sure the npub you follow knows it is to GM him in the DM. Am I right? If so, why not developing a path on the client side to give this optionality every time you click the 'follow' button? 

 gm! 

 It would also be broken because many clients will not implement that, especially the new ones. So your follow counter will never resemble the real value.  

 Got it 😟