What is the differences between friend and follower?

I have 297 followers but 261 friends. What is the differences 

So followers are random people that decided to follow you and friends are already following you.

36 followers aren't friends

i don't know

IDK

Is it possible to see who is following? I had 1 and I don't know why or who they are 🤔

Thanks

36 people have closed their acc, they were ur friends(just check ur friends list and u will see 36 closed accs

Wow

A follower is someone who is following you by using the following option of chess.com.

A friend is someone who you send a request to and he accepts it and vice-versa.

A friend is by default a follower but can choose to unfollow which will not affect the features though or maybe even the follower count.

A friend is displayed in the friend list.

Followers stay annonymous.

If you follow, you can see them in the friend list of live chess if they are live.

Both provide similar kind of features for the one who is following.

You can't see a follower in the friend list of live chess.

You can't receive messages from them if it is for friends only. Same goes for blogs and such friends only stuff.

followers r not fans guys..............they r ur friends who closed their acc and dont count in ur number of friends but u can see them in ur friends list(last page) and they still keep following u

A follower can be a complete stranger