I was encouraged by the news that a number of people with enormous followings on social media were found to have purchased many of their followers. Though I wonder if it will change any professional behaviors. It has become a common practice for editors and agents to check writers’ followings before taking on their manuscripts, platform now being as important to the world of publishing as talent (if not more so). It would remind me of high school, where popularity is paramount, but even there the student voted the Most Popular was never the one Most Likely to Succeed.
