She hasn’t come to anything I’ve invited her to in 5 years because she only goes to events that “further her business.” Regularly says things like, “we’re all using each other for something.” Sometimes she texts me the same exact thing word for word over a couple of days, and it’s obvious she just copy/pastes the same thing and sends it to all of us and then forgets who she has sent it to. She still reaches out to me multiple times a year and claims I’m one of her best friends, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. I’ve told her as much, but she just says “this is my life now, my business comes first and if you can’t accept that, then I guess you’re not a real friend.”

I was best friends with a now influencer. She’s a genuine person but also lies, if that makes sense? She very much about empower women and helping people accept themselves and build their confidence, which is a great platform! However, some of the anecdotes she tells about “struggling with fitting in” when she was a teen are blatant lies. She was popular and every guy had a crush on her. I don’t want to undermine whatever internal struggle she faced, but when she tells stories about bullying in high school, they’re lies. She’s genuine about wanting to be positive for people, I just wish she did it a bit more honestly.

One of my best friends dated a really insta-famous guy. He invited us to his house for a Christmas party and this is when I realized how fake social media was. The guy didn’t have the car he paraded on social media. He he leased it, took several photo shoots with it, then gave it back. His house was in a different city than he claimed. I don’t think it was for security reasons though. He said he lived in a very rich city but his house was in a more modest place. He asked me to send him the videos I took at the party, posted them, and didn’t even tag me because I “didn’t have enough followers”? The worst part was that all the social media people at the party just kept yelling over each other trying to make the next big joke, but none of them were funny. Dude has millions of people fooled.

I know a wannabe influencer. She will reply to her own posts from her husband's account praising herself. Then she will reply to those posts as herself thanking him, it's hilarious, like inception for Facebook.

Not a friend per say but my ex’s sister is an influencer (beauty/makeup) with over a million followers on yt. She was so anxious and stressed all the time. Horribly insecure. If she got some backlash or bad comments she’d be so upset. Was on a lot of anti-anxiety medication. Meanwhile all the posts are her looking beautiful and travelling etc. She didn’t have many friends either (that i saw anyway. Just lots of fans). It looked horrible. Ruined the illusion for me (that their lifestyles are perfect/happy) and i’m thankful for being able to see behind the curtain.

Pretty mundane, honestly. My friend is conventionally attractive, and if you look at her social media, you'd think she were a supermodel millionaire who goes on tons of trips. She's actually chronically unemployed, and has an income of less than 10k/yr. Her boyfriend makes about $60k/yr which is enough to afford them a very nice 3 1/2 bedroom apartment, and she has tons of props she uses to make each room look different from day to day so it seems like she's always in a new, exotic place. They take two trips a year to fun, tropical places, in which she takes many photos, and posts them as different places throughout the year. She's a very kind, considerate, sparkling personality, but whenever we hang out, I tend to be a shoulder to cry on as she laments about her lack of success in life. It's quite sad, honestly. But with her creativity and personality, I think she'll achieve her dreams eventually.

I have a neighbour who is an influencer... she uses her kids and behind the scenes is nothing like the happy pictures! She screams at them to smile and on one occasion, said I don’t give a fk if you don’t like the fken juice! Just pretend and smile! It’s all fake and I hate it.

Everything is fake. The attitude the mannerisms, everything. It sounds stupid until you realize they clear close to 7 figures a year. One time we vacationed with them and when we were out to dinner they said to us “one second we need to go film a bit” and they went from our friends who are calm and nice to the “HEY GUYS WE ARE IN THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH FRANCE” annoying people everyone loves to hate.

It's annoying AF. One of my buddies is constantly filming everything we do and posting it. It's to the point where people walk up to me on the street and ask me about him because they've seen me in his posts...i have no idea who they are. It dominates everything he does, and has severely impacted his personal relationships. He can't keep a GF and it's clearly related to this obsession of his. He does occasionally get some cool stuff out of it though. After pretty much kicking him out of my life because I do not want to be continually posted online, we've come to the understanding that when he's about to take a pic or video, he hands me the phone so i'm not in the shot. Works OK for me.

I dated one. Not super popular but followers in the 100k range last time we spoke. I remember a lot of getting ignored and only receiving nice gifts/acts of kindness when they could post about it. Asking me to go to nice places (they didn't drive) only to leave me on a bench somewhere while they took pictures. Huge strain on the relationship, especially when they started to get bigger and there was more demand for content.

Exactly as fake and staged as you imagine it to be, the on-camera moments are completely non genuine. It is in the end just an acting/modeling job and not their real personality.

Friends with a high profile athlete who is pretty popular on insta.... he is always on the phone... never lives in the moment. If we are doing anything fun? well, it basically didn't happen unless the world knows about it. Its just annoying ...I cant imagine living for the approval or satisfaction of others.

I've driven 3 hours, hiked one hour, they took a couple of photos over about 5 minutes and then complained that we're ready to go home. Sometimes they will buy unhealthy, but 'grammable' food, take photos of them licking it, and then throwing it out. I also have a friend who when overseas will set alarms for like, 3am, to wake up and post their photos from the day at the peak time back home. I haven't seen them for a while.

My cousin is a moderately successful instagram model and she absolutely hates it. She hates her fans, finds them all cringey and pathetic, hates the drama and how PC it all is (irl she's very conservative/traditional) Only does it because it's the only way she can make money. She dropped out of school and endorsing products and taking pictures of herself is the only way she knows how to pay rent. Irl she's basically the complete opposite of the happy bubblly ditzy girl she plays online and we often laugh over some of the messages she receives, including proposals and women angry that their sons/husbands are following her.

So incredibly annoying. I actually emded up cutting her off because everything had to be a photo opportunity. We could never just go out to lunch, or see a movie without it turning into a photoshoot. She never did anything with our friend group unless it was 'aesthetic', and even then, she was so focussed on getting us to take photos that a. she didn't get to enjoy the activity, and b. it started bringing everyone else down because they couldn't participate either. And this sounds so petty, but she could never just show up in a t-shirt and leggings (because photos, obviously). Like even sleepovers and movie nights had to be a big production and sometimes you just need to stuff your face with popcorn and look like a slob! It's good for the soul!! She'd also complain a lot about how hard her job was... Our friendship group at the time consisted of an EMT, two nurses, a teacher, and me who was juggling university, tutoring, and working retail. Lile, I'm sure she had challenges and all jobs are hard sometimes, but... girl.... you get paid to take selfies with free stuff, and show up at events looking pretty...

not a friend of an influencer, but i am an “influencer” i guess. i have 150k+ on youtube. it was so much fun to start of with, but now all i feel is constant pressure. if i make one mistake, i could lose everything i’ve spent years building. i’m never sure whether new friends like me for me, or because they want ‘clout’. even tho my content is focused on true crime, and not me, having that many people watch you and comment on your appearance, the way you talk, etc can really fuck you up. completely distorts your idea of self if you don’t find ways to step back. having non-social media friends really helps bring you back to earth. and trying to treat it was a typically 9-5.