People Who Know Influencers Are Sharing What They’re Really Like IRL, And All I Can Say Is…Yikes

8.

“I have a friend who’s aspiring to be an influencer. She’s got around 4.5k followers on Instagram, so she’s getting there. She does it the honest way, though, and doesn’t buy followers or create separate accounts to comment on her own stuff. She gets free stuff from clothing lines to promote and all that.”

“She spends a disturbing amount of time taking photos of herself and on Instagram… We had a conversation once where I expressed my concern because it’s such a toxic platform, and I was worried about her, but she’s very confident in herself (and she should be! She’s gorgeous and has a very funky style). But she’s fallen into the trap of editing her skin in photos despite having amazing skin. I told her she doesn’t need to, but she says she doesn’t get the same likes if she doesn’t, which is really sad…

I had to talk her out of giving some random guy her home address to send her free stuff. I was adamant that it was an incredibly bad idea to give some random middle-aged man her home address, and if she really wants free stuff from him, she should get it sent to a post office. She listened to me in the end and didn’t get anything off him, and I was so relieved she actually listened. I had such a gut-wrenching, terrible feeling about it.

The bottom line is, I worry about her. She’s genuinely a sweet and funny girl, and I don’t think there’s a malicious bone in her body. I wish the best for her, and I don’t want her to fall into the traps a lot of influencers do, where they live for the likes and heavily edit themselves in photos.”

—u/tilbofaggins