Seriously. Who/what do you follow?
Those on Instagram, for instance, who have the most followers, are:
- Cristiano Ronaldo — The Portuguese professional soccer player has more followers than many have in their own country with 593 million followers.
- Lionel Messi — The Argentine soccer player gets close to Ronaldo, but only with 475 million followers.
- Selena Gomez — One of the fastest recent risers, this non-athlete talks about far more than being the Biebs’ ex-girlfriend. Her food and mental health conversations have found her with over 423 million followers.
- Kylie Jenner — Here comes the first of this familial clan, as this media personality and young business woman now has 395 million followers.
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — This retired professional wrestler, now actor and tequila connoisseur finds himself 5th on the list with 385 million followers.
- Ariana Grande — The pop icon with an impressive four-octave range tunes in with 375 million followers.
- Kim Kardashian — A half-sister of the aforementioned Jenner, this media personality slightly trails the above with 360 million followers.
- Beyoncé Knowles — Unquestionably, “Queen Bey” is one of the greatest entertainers of her generation, evident by her 312 million followers.
- Khloe Kardashian — Next in the famous family tree is the “reality” TV sister with 309 million followers.
- Nike — At 10th comes our first non-individual, with the popular shoe brand currently netting some 299 million followers.
- Justin Bieber — One of my personal faves, the Canadian-born pop star has 292 million followers.
- Kendall Jenner — Another Kardashian/Jenner celebrity — daughter of Kris and then Bruce — now Caitlyn — has a respectable 291 million followers.
- National Geographic — The only other non-individual focuses on authentic beauty without any make-up, as noted by its 279 million followers.
- Taylor Swift — Swifties shake off any idea that their icon isn’t in the top ten, regardless of also only 264 million followers.
- Virat Kohli — And lastly, in spot 15, we’re bookended by one more sports star, this one a cricketeer with 252 million followers.
My personal feed includes a few (far) lesser known personalities, such as Omgitswicks, the “part tour guide/part wise uncle” who provides hilarious sketch comedy focused on Florida nuances, and TJ Therrien, the middle child who showcases family therapy by amusingly exaggerating the differences in the oldest, middle and youngest child approaches.
But all that to make a singular point this day…
All of the above are known as who/what we enjoy… we like… at the very least we’re curious and want to pay attention them. Hence, we follow them.
But my strong sense, with absolute all due respect to each of the above, is that current culture has diluted what it means to follow.
Whether it be a new diet, the Golden Rule or Jesus Christ, for example, to actually follow doesn’t mean simply to enjoy, like or pay attention to. It doesn’t mean being curious or behaving however we want to. To “follow” and “follow halfheartedly” are contradictory. To follow, friends, is to be wholly in. What we like or agree with are secondary to why we chose to follow the who/what to begin with.
Seriously.
Respectfully…
AR