The hottest buzzwords of 2018 following the Cambridge Analytica fallout were ‘Data Protection’. Did you notice how suddenly, those accounts which ‘followed’ and ‘unfollowed’ you on social platforms, suddenly ground to a halt?

Simply, it was because that the bots used by many profiles to grow followings suddenly became relegated to the cyber scrapheap as it were. Did you also notice how some accounts which you followed that had numbers of 20k and had remained stagnant at those same figures for over a year, miraculously began to grow by a 100 or so per week? This was due to tracking sites; the likes of Social Blade, being made redundant due to the new GDPR regulations.

Therefore, it was not so much a case of the playing field being levelled as it was ‘old habits die hard’. The floodgates opened and the usual rhetoric of flogging everything from sliced pan to mascara flowed. Rounded off by my personal favourite, the saccharine, ‘What are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below guys?’

Then it happened. The Cleaning accounts. Which left them all scratching their heads, with a side of envy, as to how this had happened.

The undoubted leader of the pack is a woman by the name of Sophie Hinch. Or, ‘Mrs Hinch’ to her almost 500k strong #hincharmy. Her account showcases her home, all in various hues of silver and grey, with a dash of diamante and mirrored occasional furniture and her undisputed love for cleaning her abode. She shares her daily cleaning routine along with her tips and hacks to maximise on same. Such has been the trajectory of growth on her account that retailers have been emptied of products as her loyal followers rush to get their hands on her recommendations. She affectionately names the stalwarts in her cleaning arsenal: her stockpile of products is, ‘Narnia’.

Her favourite cleaning sponge is ‘Minkeh’ along with ‘Buddy’, ‘Dave’ and ‘Vera’ the mop. She tags the word, ‘Mate’ at the end of each sentence and signs off her posts with, ‘All the best’.

Full disclosure, this is so far not up my street as to make it a veritable wrong turn. Firstly, I dread to think of the headache-inducing levels of Zoflora used. My conscience in relation to the further contribution of damage to the environment due to the volume of packaging discarded after a cleaning binge, being another.

However, this aside, it is clear to see why she has been such a success. Because, she is unapologetically and genuinely, herself.

It is hard not to warm to her infectious personality or her sheer disbelief at the increasing number of ‘Hinchers’. Not for her the moulding and twisting into what is deemed ‘Instagram worthy’. Nor does she disguise her love for glittered, flocked wallpaper or a full set of extra long acrylics…’I just love them mate!’ Full on glam and full on cleaning. The whole package is accessible.

Her personality, the products… it is unedited, frequent and attainable. Without the trite, open ended questions purported by other accounts. It has, in brief, been a whirlwind phenomenon.

If you set aside the whole premise, the cleaning, I believe one of the reasons she has achieved the often lauded ‘Insta-fame’ so quickly, is because she shares information. If a follower asks for details on a cleaning product to her curtain tie-backs, she supplies it.

Without the affectation of, ‘Check my blogpost for details guys’. She is just a woman who loves to clean and uploads herself doing so. There have been whispers of it knocking back the Sisterhood into the Dark Ages once more as a result of the deluge of women taking up their dusters. But, one of the cornerstones of feminism is, choice. If I decided in the morning to go full on postal on my bathroom with some CIF that does not diminish my principles as a woman.

In fact, the only effect it might have is inducing cardiac arrest in my husband such would be his shock at my knowledge as to what CIF even is! So, while I may never be a fully-fledged member of the ‘Hinchers’, I can appreciate and admire their efforts from afar. My ‘Narnia’ is more likely to consist of piles of yet to read tomes as opposed to pine scented four- in-one sprays. But, that doesn’t make our stockpiles any less or more than the others… it just makes us different. Which I’m pretty sure Mrs Hinch would be very understanding of.

@thegirlinthepaper