I Met an Instagram Influencer
The dark truth behind the facade
I think we all know pretty well that social media, especially Instagram, isn’t real. That’s because we know that we put our best self on there, while all the icky real stuff is kept private so it’s only realistic that everyone else does the same.
The influencer game is a whole other level though. They don’t just put their best selves out there, they sometimes manipulate the masses into believing they are someone else entirely. Even their benign stuff is less than benign — especially their “real talk” posts where they choose an “ugly” picture to be relatable, but we all know that those are carefully selected and still show a good side.
That didn’t prepare me for just how stark the difference was between reality and what I saw on Instagram after meeting an influencer. In this case, I knew her before she hit the big time. This particular individual isn’t a mega influencer like a Kardashian with millions of followers, at last count she had close to the 100k mark. If the difference can be so great at that level, just imagine what it’s like when you have millions of followers.
She was quite the fun individual when I met her at a friend’s place. Very extroverted and chatty and certainly one to lift the mood of the room. She’s one of those people my more introverted self…
