When did we become sheep?

Are we born to follow or lead?

I was walking past a beautician the other day and out front was a sandwich board that advertised a few of their services. On the board there was a photo of a pretty girl and the words "as recommended by Melinda Young* with 265k Instagram followers"

I was intrigued, who was this Melinda Young? She had 265k Instagram followers, how could she have so many followers and be featured on advertising posters and yet I had never heard of her. I pride myself and keeping up a basic interest in celebrities, personalities and pop culture. So I did a bit of on-line investigating and found out this girl was a 21 year part-time model and part time retail assistant.

Since when did women start taking their beauty tips from a 21 year old part time shop assistant? This girl had no professional beauty qualifications, no major life changing events, no major achievements apart from accumulation of over 265,000 followers. Most of her posts were just photos of herself in a bikini lounging around a pool. Had we really reached a point in civilization where "followers" are more important that university qualifications or demonstrated experience in a particular field?

I recently received a request for free tickets to a show I was working on from a self-proclaimed "beauty and fashion blogger" who had over 100K followers, she asked for free tickets in exchange for exposure and free advertising on her blog and social media accounts. My first response was to hit delete but curiosity got the better of me to see what she could actually deliver.

I checked out her social media accounts to find what out "beauty and fashion blogger' actually meant. She had a normal 9-5 job that had nothing to do with fashion or beauty but her main claim to fame was that she took photos of herself trying on clothes in stores and for this she had over 100,000 followers.

I gave her some free tickets, she came to the show, uploaded some photos (mainly of herself) got a few hundred likes and that was it. I'm not sure if her posts translated into extra ticket sales or not, but why were people liking photos of her at a live show? She had no drama, acting or TV experience, she didn't even say if she liked the show or thought it was crap. It was just her, tagged in some photos and a couple of check ins?

I wonder if the amount of followers that the above two had accumulated had anything to do with that they were young, thin and pretty. Would a middle aged, slightly overweight, average looking male (i.e. me) get the same amount of followers if I started taking selfies in Gazman and Tarocash?

I think I can count my really close friends on one hand and I think of myself as lucky. When did numbers of followers equate to popularity, credibility or reliability, especially when the individual has no experience in what they are blogging/writing/posting photos about?

It’s a bit like asking your neighbor for medical advice because they have a nice lawn or maybe getting some financial tips from my hairdresser.

Selena Gomez is the most followed person on Instagram with 86 million followers and I don't begrudge her for that, she has been on TV and in movies, releases nice poppy songs and dated some guy called Justin. She even fronted a campaign to get teenagers to vote in the 2008 US presidential campaign. I'm sure she has lots a passionate fans, who want to hear about her every move, but what I don't understand is when a local shop assistant or secretary or taxi driver becomes the go to person, when you can't decide what wear, eat or where to go on holidays.

How did we start following so blindly? Are we born to follow? Who is chosen to lead? And when did we become sheep? Did I miss the memo on when it became better to follow, rather than lead, make your own decisions and blaze your own trail?

*name changed