I've gone back and forth about the whole pub question myself, but I would say that since the release of the Boost program, it's a bit counterintuitive to self-publish. I generally put a lot of thought into where I submit each of my pieces.

Sorry you're still not seeing all the success you'd hope for! Getting all of those followers definitely means you're doing something right. I think people just tend to severely overextend themselves and follow more people than they can stuff into a day. Glad you're not giving up and congrats again on 100 articles!