“Unfollow verified celebrities, they are slavish human beings who will do anything, absolutely anything, for more fame”.

“Unfollow verified professors, they’re not brilliant in any way, they’re docile, aloof, locked up in the ivory towers of academia”.

“Unfollow fashion editors, they reduce your self-image to a commodity under the control of fashion corporations”.

“Unfollow verified pornstars, they turn sex into an instant-gratification experience, like fast food burgers”.

Denouncing celebrities, professors, porn stars, fashion editors and – naturally – politicians @Who2Unfollow also tweeted:

“Disney movies turn children into stupid believers in destructive capitalist dreams”.

Now hang on a minute! Disney? Disney taught me how to be heroic! I grew up infatuated with heroes on horses and in 2001 that famous movie The Poof Point (don’t worry if you missed it).

What a line up! All of the people and Disney, in one way or another, openly (or secretly) followed (not just on twitter but in real life), precisely because they are the heroes or heroines of our world – the successful, the fabulous, the examples of wealth and fame, sexual heroes and heroines in the fast food world of porn. One way or another all of these people scream success and money and the Disney dream!

As I was considering who to unfollow I noticed a small article called ‘unseen but essential’ – a salute to the invisibles.

It was a review of a new book by David Zweig called The Power of Anonymous Work In An Age Of Relentless Self Promotion. Zweig has apparently travelled the world finding people whose work is both essential and invisible. These roles don’t come with celebrity or porn star fame. Rather they are in total contrast with what Zweig calls the current “cacophony of self-importance, of personalised electronic vuvuzelas”, either because of the nature of their work or because they take pride in their work itself rather than how their work can take them into the Disney world of fame and fortune.

These are people whose names we will never know. Like the structural engineer responsible for the safety of some of the world’s tallest buildings, the surgeons who tirelessly operate on cancer tumours, the “wayfinding” experts who develop international codes so people in public places can make sense of where they are.

And then there are the invisibles that we’ve met, like our friend in Tanzania who runs a charity pre-primary school, who develop their work in places that many of us wouldn’t think possible. These are not the CEOs or the media savvy spokesperson. They are the people at the front line dealing with need, poverty, violence, suffering, isolation, and pain. They are the invisible heroines and heroes.

We rarely ever hear of their daily work. They do not have a media profile or a personal brand. They are well committed to changing the world and making their mark but it is the work itself, not their fame and fortune, they find satisfaction with.

Being invisible does not mean being introverted or lacking in motivation. Quite the opposite. Passionate engagement in a life that really matters to the people and the world in which we live is a crucial need right now.

The good news is you don’t have to be followed by thousands to make a massive difference exactly where you are, and that self-worth is not dependent on extrinsic recognition for the sake of it – or how many re-tweets you get in a day.

As The Guardian article concludes, perhaps life as an invisible isn’t for everyone, “but focus too much on the opposite, on making yourself seen, and you might wake up one day to realise you’re all visibility – with nothing important to be visible for”.

PS. If anyone can find vuvuzelas in any dictionary please let us know.