1. Create an interesting book/movie/song - get 500 followers.
or
2. Show off your body in the latest fashion - get 5 million followers.
“It’s hard to believe she’s 'famous' – she hasn’t really done anything yet”
Oh, brave new world that has such people in it!
It's a very bad situation. What can we do about it? At the very least we can NOT follow such 'influencers' ourselves, and, indeed, not bother with most mainstream stuff at all....but, instead, show interest in indie creators who do good stuff and who need our attention.
And for people who find themselves very famous by accident, please wear a t-shirt for your millions of followers saying:
"The system that encourages such shallowness as this is bad - lets end it."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/22/what-would-you-do-if-your-teenager-became-an-overnight-instagram-sensation-