You’d think that achieving success overnight would be every online content creator’s dream come true, and while it may be a perfect actualisation of everything they’ve ever hoped for, for so many, it is brand new terrain that they must now navigate with little to no preparation.
Overnight success can quickly become someone’s worst nightmare if they are ill prepared for it, and often, we don’t see the struggle behind the fame.
An individual who accumulates fame via traditional means – i.e. your garden variety celebrities, actors, dancers, singers, and even sports personalities – are all well aware of what they are signing up for. While times have changed and social media influencers could potentially fall into this category where they are well aware of what they are in for and are also actively seeking it out, most of the time, many of them do not expect the intensity of the limelight that they get thrust under.
As with a small company that gets recognised by a juggernaut like Oprah, and becomes an international phenomenon while still being a small business that lacks the capital, staff, or infrastructure to handle a big order or nationwide publicity and promptly gets crushed when its product or service becomes a hit, individuals who find themselves in the middle of a social media storm may experience similar struggles. They may have hoped for it, but no one really expects it.
There are online personalities of various calibres with various agendas, and by nature of the existence of social media and digital marketing, Sri Lanka has also accumulated a host of online personalities, all with an impressive online presence, and with hundreds and thousands of eyes on them on a regular basis.
We reached out to a few such personalities who have seen online fame and success, to hear from them how this somewhat unnatural and rather unique experience has affected them and the way that they navigate themselves, both online and offline.
Reaching out to individuals from across platforms, we spoke to Shenelle Rodrigo – better known as @sheneller on Instagram with 37,800 followers and an equally impressive subscriber count on her YouTube channel. Shenelle shared that she does not by any means consider herself to be an influencer or famous in any way. She said: “It may at times seem to many that this platform grew overnight, but it was really over a long period of time, where we continued to work towards a goal, and while more people started to watch, we continued to focus on the work.”
Shenelle said that what she can say about a growing platform is that it is incredible to see that their hard work is appreciated. “Sometimes, we have people come up to us and say they love what we do; they are looking forward to the next video and they even share their recommendations,” she said, and regarding occasions like that, she shared that it is good to have a large following that recognises and appreciates the work that you do.
While Shenelle remained quite positive about her increasingly growing audience, Alison Wijemanne shared that while she herself is not all that affected, one must develop thick skin when they have a presence online. She said that she has friends who are quite easily affected by negative comments online and therefore, this kind of attention really isn’t easy for everyone to process.
Alison has 37,900 followers on TikTok and an equal amount of followers on her Instagram, and she is a creator who has not often engaged in many brand deals and commercial collaborations, maintaining her online presence as a platform where she shares her life with a rather large audience.
About her growing platform, Alison commented: “At first, it was really great, because I was able to get a message out effectively – I am passionate about finding homes for abandoned dogs and puppies and with the following that I have, I was able to house them quite quickly, as I was able to reach a lot of people.” She added, however, that on the flipside, there are occasions where she is out and about with her friends, enjoying her private life, and she would have people walk up to her and acknowledge her; while none of them have been rude, or made the interaction negative, she has had to make certain adjustments to accept that as the norm.
Sharing her thoughts on the matter, Thanuja Jaywardena, better known as Lola_mca on TikTok with over 80,000 followers, shared that in her case, it did feel quite sudden, but she was a creator on the platform well before her following began to grow. “When I first started, it was really just an intimate group of people and I didn’t care much for the content I posted. I did whatever I wanted; it was really just stress relief during the pandemic,” she said. However, after her profile began to gain traction around May this year, she made some conscious adjustments, only because she felt that she had a responsibility to her newfound audience.
“My audience grew to include a lot of women, young teenage girls, and I really wanted to exercise caution about what I shared and tried to share positive content that was empowering to young girls,” she said. Thanuja is a known personality on the platform for encouraging body positivity, female empowerment, and confidence, and she shared that beyond these adjustments, she has tried to stay true to herself. However as is the norm with online spaces, there have been negative comments that she has learned to tolerate.
We also spoke to Saasha Karunarathne (over 69,000 followers on TikTok and similar numbers on Instagram) and Tarja De Silva (over 41,000 followers on Instagram), both of whom are massive online personalities and also represent a unique perspective to the conversation, as they both brought with them a real-life pre-established platform – Saasha being a TV presenter and Tarja a professional dancer.
Tarja shared that while she does not wish to be called an “influencer”, she understands that she has a platform online. This platform, however, is the result of her continuing to do what she has always done – her fitness and her dancing. She shared that she has tried not to let her growing online platform overwhelm her, but being human, she said that there have been occasions where she has looked for the numbers, how many likes, how much positive engagement – and such things can take a toll.
Similarly, Saasha also commented that while she has built an online platform, much of her audience comes from her media background as a television personality. Therefore, she has not experienced what one would refer to as “overnight success”.
The two also shared interesting insight into the nature of “celebrity”, and how the lines between online personality and traditional celebrity are melting. The lines appear to be more blurred than ever, with massive online creators gaining fast popularity, well surpassing traditional media stars.
Saasha added that while, even to this day, despite the numbers saying online content creators have more engagement and far more reach, people may view the traditional celebrities as “stars”, but things are changing, and five years down the line, we can expect a complete one-eighty in these roles and perceptions.
