‘I wouldn’t dream of telling a stranger I hated their laugh’: how does it feel when your social media followers cross a line?

The tabloid press may have driven a bulldozer through that model of gatekeeping, but social media blew it up almost completely. One look at Instagram or TikTok shows the majority of these sites are designed to feel intimate, as though you’re in direct contact with your favourite celebrity. In the desperate quest to be relatable, many high-profile people now offer up more and more of their personal lives online, hoping their fans will like them more for it. Megastars such as Taylor Swift breadcrumb details through their music and social media, but likability is paramount to success for anyone who makes their living online. What better way to make people like you than to offer up the illusion of connection? Talk straight to camera, look into the eyes of your adoring fans. Sell them the facsimile of real friendship, then sell them your limited jewellery drop.