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Over the past few decades, society has transitioned to turning to the internet for everything. Shopping, watching movies and shows, keeping in touch with our friends and family members, and even as a way to turn regular people into celebrities. Today, the idea of the influencer is nothing new, as the word has even been in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary since 2019, but depending on who you ask, the word can have a positive or negative connotation.

It has never been easier to stumble upon 15 minutes of fame, yet not everyone handles that small amount of fame with grace. Reddit user JesseB342 recently started a conversation by asking, “What’s the smallest amount of internet fame/clout that you’ve seen go to someone’s head?” And hundreds of readers responded with the cringiest stories imaginable.

Below, we’ve gathered some of the best responses that might make you glad you never went viral on TikTok, so be sure to upvote the stories featuring people you would never follow on social media. Keep reading to also find interviews with Sue Scheff, author of Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate, and Dr. Jenna Drenten to gain some insight from a couple experts on the topic of influencers. Let us know in the comments if you have any personal experiences with people who let gaining a tiny platform go to their heads, and then if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article featuring influencers that deserved to be shamed online, you can find that right here.

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#1

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' A new local tv anchor woman was trying to pay for her dinner at a restaurant with a check. Restaurant doesn't take checks, it's posted all over the front door she walked through. She stands up and starts screaming at the waitress "Do YOU know who I AM?!?" The waitress says no and walks off to get her manager. She didn't get to pay with a check...

Two weeks later, the same anchor woman comes into the department store I worked at. She has a mound of clothes in her arms and throws them on the counter and asks what kind of discount she gets for being a local celebrity. My co-worker tells her such thing does not exist. She pushes the pile of clothes off of the counter and tells my co-worker that she needs to learn how to treat the upper class better.

She's not our local tv anchor woman anymore.

ZayleeLeila , Ron Lach Report

Final score:
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Although being an influencer is still a relatively new career path, it has quickly become one of the most popular dreams of many young people. If you ask a group of children what they want to be when they grow up, there’s a great chance that many of them will respond with “Youtuber!”, “TikToker!” or “Twitch streamer!” In fact, one study featuring 3,000 kids in the UK and the US found that nearly 30% of them ranked being a Youtuber as a more preferable job than being a teacher, a professional athlete, a musician or an astronaut.  

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But it’s not just kids that are drawn to the glittery lifestyle of having a social media platform. According to a recent study from Morning Consult, 54% of Americans between the ages of 13 and 38 said that they would become an influencer if given the opportunity. So why is this such an enticing career? Do we assume that they don’t actually do any work, are we interested in the popularity and fame, or is it the mystery that draws us in? The lifestyle is certainly quite different from how most of us earn our money, sitting at desks all day or working in customer service, but as we all know, there are pros and cons to every career.
#2

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' My friend's family immigrated from the USSR. He was born and raised in the US and went in to the military. After some time in the service, like everyone else, gets a ton of participation ribbons. Those ribbons would got to his head. He would walk around in dress uniform when he was off duty and people would walk up to him and thank him for his service, never mind that only time he saw bullets fly was in training.

One day, he decides to visit his grandparents in his dress uniform. His grandfather looks at him and said "son, I fought from Stalingrad to Berlin and got one ribbon. How many planets did you have to invade to get all those ribbons?"

After that he never wore his dress uniform out in public again.

noreenholman , Jeremy Bezanger Report

Final score:
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Joe Blowe
Joe Blowe
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Grandpa set him straight. Most of the ribbons were probably "participation" ribbons

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To gain some insight on whether or not influencers are a positive thing, we reached out to Sue Scheff, author of multiple books including Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate. "Like with social media in general, there are the pros and cons of influencers," Sue told Bored Panda. "I believe that being an influencer comes with responsibility. I feel they can be used for good, however they also have had a negative impact on people (especially young people) too. With some influencers – it can feel like an infomercial, while others are creating a false sense of reality."

"Internet fame can be rewarding – but you also need to be prepared for the dark side," Sue warns. "You are now opened up for cyber-critics, and there is no shortage of online haters. Keep in mind, you can go from fame to infamy -- very quickly online."
#3

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I work for a company that books luxury travel, think $20000 packages.

A woman contacted us wanting a free trip in exchange for posting it on her blog, proudly proclaiming that she had 800 followers.

My coworkers's dog photo account has more followers.

AnastasiaSheppard , Mateus Campos Felipe Report

Final score:
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wifeofweasley
wifeofweasley
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd like to see that dogs photo account - love some good doggo pictures

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We also asked Sue how internet fame tends to affect people. "This really depends on the person, however realistically, it really can’t help but change most people," she says. "With some, it does go to their heads and they will get arrogant and egotistical– ego can be dangerous. It’s when they start losing sight of why they started a platform (or became an influencer) – they typically become self-righteous which can cause them to lose followers. But with others, they are grateful for their followers, engage with them and continue to appreciate the love."

We were also curious what Sue would say to anyone who has aspirations of becoming an influencer or gaining fame online. "I believe it’s something that would happen naturally. It’s not something you can force," she told Bored Panda. "There are literally millions of people (all ages) hoping to become the next big influencer, be passionate and authentic about what you love – it will come through on the screen. I would never discourage anyone, but also people need to be realistic about it – in one study, 98 percent of teens aspire to be influencers. That’s a big number – stay the course of life, if it happens, it was meant to be – otherwise, enjoy sharing your content you’re excited about! You never know when it will be discovered."

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#4

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I worked as a hairstylist (certified but can’t do it anymore due to nerve damage) and this lady made an appointment for her newly 1 year old child.
At first, all she wanted for him was to clean up around the ears and neck because it was getting kind of long.
Kid is SCREAMING. This is his first haircut ever. I’m being super patient and slow. It was my last one of the day so I’m not worried about time.
She then says “I’m an influencer and I take photos of my kids all day. I need this to look perfect. This is his first haircut and you’re f*****g it up.”
So to try and calm her down while also still keeping my composure, I asked, “oh, an influencer? What do you do? Like what platform?” And she looked me dead in my eyes and said, “well I gained fame because my daughter died.”
…..
I got silent from there.
But just as we were starting to finish up, she says, “I hate it. Can you do a skin fade on him?”
Girl HES 1!! He’s screaming at scissors. I’m not taking loud clippers next to his head. I tried to explain that if he moves while I have clippers near him like that, it could just make it even worse.
I told her there’s a barber shop right across the street if she wanted to try going there.
She took photos of me without knowledge or permission and posted them on her instagram (100k followers) and bashed me.
I was 20 and had just graduated hair school. I did tell her that before to the appointment as well.
When she posted photos of his head the next day, not only had he just woken up so his hair was messy, it also looked like she had tried to “fix” it at home. The other (senior) stylist that had been with me in the salon during the whole thing saw how I did his hair and she was shocked at the posted photos because it is not how I did it.
It still cracks me up a few years later, but now I don’t trust mommy bloggers

LizzieW1 , Jason Lander Report

Final score:
223points
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"I talk to parents on a weekly basis, many are concerned about their kids slacking in their studies with the dreams of becoming the next big influencer," Sue added. "It’s important not to discourage them (completely) as much as share with them how an education plays a role in reaching their goals. Talk about going to college for marketing, branding, and business or even graphic arts – this will only enhance their social media platform. Knowledge is power, education is key."

"In my opinion – we need to get our kids thinking about other ways they can use their energy, internet savvy and social media expertise – into future employment – outside of being an influencer," Sue told Bored Panda. "With adults -- again, continue sharing your passion, be authentic, you never know if you get discovered -- in the meantime, it's your job that will pay the rent."
#5

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' There's a kid I work with who's (I believe) 7 years old, and he's a "YouTube influencer." By that, I mean the kid's parents made a YouTube channel that follows the same format as stuff like Ryan's World, got lucky with one video that got around 10,000 views (all of their others barely have a hundred), and it immediately went to their head. The kid's dad refers to himself as his "manager" and answers questions on the kid's behalf, they hand out business cards with all their social media info, and they even GOT THE KID'S NAME LEGALLY CHANGED to the name he uses on YouTube.

The worst part is the kid seems indifferent at best to all of this. It's 100% his parents pushing it on him.

astaten0 , Hannah Nelso Report

Final score:
179points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Way to ruin the kids childhood. He'd probably be happy for the cash later on but life just isn't going to be the same.

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"Like with the Reddit thread -- anything you do online you need to be prepared to be judged," Sue notes. "The entire world has carte blanche to a keypad with very little boundaries to say whatever they are feeling about you -- the good, bad, and ugly -- and unfortunately, the UGLY speaks the loudest - and echoes the longest. In other words, becoming an influencer is not for the faint of heart."

If you'd like to learn more about Sue and check out her books, be sure to visit her website right here.

#6

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' My daughter got 20k followers on TikTok and decided to leave her husband and 6 year old daughter to go be part of the convention circuit.

She dresses up and gushes about meeting "famous" people.

love_my_aussies , petr sidorov Report

Final score:
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10 years ago, it would have been a huge achievement to receive one million views on a Youtube video, but today, it’s hard to impress anyone with numbers on social media. The most followed Instagram accounts have hundreds of millions of followers, and the most followed TikTok accounts have upwards of 50 million followers. So if you have a few hundred or even a few thousand people liking your photos online, that is nothing in the eyes of most of the world. And while nobody should be allowed to let social media fame or a presence online go to their head, it is especially obnoxious when it comes from people who have a long way to go if they’re looking to reach internet fame. 

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While it has become easy for anyone to go viral, at least for a short amount of time, it has become extremely difficult to hold onto a platform and stay relevant. It’s hard to be considered special for having a few minutes of fame online when millions of others have been in the exact same situation. The stories on this list feature people who are a bit delusional about their level of “fame” and who probably deserve to be called out and knocked down a peg. Nobody likes dealing with an entitled person, but if you’re going to act like you’re a celebrity, you better actually be one. Otherwise, there are plenty of other people out there who will happily mock you on Reddit.   
#7

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Oh I've been sitting on this for a while, waiting for the perfect moment...

So before TikTok, we had Vine. A girl I was friends with posted a few videos on there and they blew up, I mean really blew up. She was interviewed by a tv station at one point and newspapers, done sketches for the local radio station... And for Scotland, that was pretty shocking because we don't normally do well in this sort of thing. She quit her managerial job in a supermarket, convinced that she was going to be famous from Vine, this was when being an "influencer" or "content creator" was relatively new. She cut everyone out of her life that was dragging her down, that included me, someone who had been friends with her for around 7 years at that point.

Long story short, she failed. She now works in a nightclub on the bar, she had three months of fame before she realised no one gave a s**t about the videos and she couldn't come up with anything funny to write and star in after it.

* Oh before I forget, she auditioned for the Star Wars movie when they done open auditions here, and she legit put on her headshot - "model, actress, vine star"

IrnBruDependant , Ivan Samkov Report

Final score:
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We also reached out to Dr. Jenna Drenten, an expert in digital consumer culture, to hear her thoughts on influencers. "Internet fame itself is not good or bad," Dr. Drenten told Bored Panda. "It can be leveraged to bring about positive social change and give a platform to educational content. Internet fame becomes problematic when it is the only goal or when a desire to be famous for the sake of being famous is all that matters. That's when we start to internet fame taking a turn for the worst. When clicks and views are all that matters, that's a recipe for spreading clickbaitable misinformation, instigating pile-on attacks, and going to extremes for the sake of becoming famous."
#8

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I was at a birthday party at a very popular restaurant that had a huge line out the door all night, every night. When the reservation was made, the host was warned that 30 minutes past that time slot, anyone who hasn’t showed up yet would have to wait in line with everyone else. Of course, some people showed up super late, made a scene at the door, and texted the host to tell them that they were just going to go to another party instead because the line was too long. The host decided the best way to handle this would be to go on social media and encourage his followers to @ the restaurant and make wildly false accusations. The host and his friends were boasting that the restaurant had no idea who they were messing with and would surely regret this once it blew up on social media due to his “very large following”.

The owner of the restaurant got a notification about the mention and knew it was our table because the host had already complained about the bouncer. The owner came over to very politely explain the reservation policy and ask that the comment be taken down since the restaurant did nothing wrong and this was uncalled for. The keyboard warriors shrank like children being scolded by their parents; I don’t think I’ve ever had more second-hand embarrassment.

Vegetable_Salad86 , mentatdgt Report

Final score:
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

High and mighty on social media....cowardly in real life. Justice was served.

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We also asked Dr. Drenten how internet fame tends to affect people. "For some people, internet fame can foster a sense of community and solidarity because it enables supportive connections you might not have access to in offline spaces," she noted. "For others, internet fame can create a sense of skepticism and insecurity because it's hard to untether your worth and value from the allure of virality. That one tweet that goes viral or the TikTok video that takes off is often akin to a one-hit wonder. I would argue this is an evolution of Chris Rojek's concept of 'celetoids' in celebrity studies. A celetoid is someone who is famous for a brief time, versus classic celebrities who have more lasting fame. It's often used to capture the quick rise and fall of reality stars."

"What's unique about social media is that it allows individuals to be brokers of attention in their own right, circumventing traditional attention brokers -- like news media, publicists, Hollywood," Dr. Drenten explained. "So everyday people can have a viral post and capitalize on their sudden celebrity status, beyond the traditional structures of fame. The modern 'celetoid' is not necessarily a person - it is content. The person (the creator or influencer) may not become famous, but their posted content does. The content is the celebrity, and now creators are able to monetize that celebrity very quickly - outside of traditional brokers of attention in celebrity culture."

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#9

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Salt bae. Sorry.

SharkBait209 , @nusr_et Report

Final score:
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We were also curious what Dr. Drenten would say to anyone who is aspiring to become internet famous. "Becoming internet famous is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It can often be a lot of work for very little pay-out, and the job of being an influencer is precarious for most," she explained. "Plus, the excitement of going viral will always come with a downside of potential trolling, doxxing, and personal attacks. People seeking the spotlight need to understand that constant online attention is not always a positive experience."
#10

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' A guy from my hometown who was sort of a skeezeball helped some elderly folks escape a fire. The act itself was commendable and he deserved the recognition he received in local media and he went viral for a week or two but uh….5 plus years after the fact he was still using that as a way to try to get out of tickets or being cut off at the local bars after refusing to pay tabs. My brother encountered his Instagram recently and his self description says something like “Unspoken hero, DM me for details” lmao

FartAttack911 , Davide De Giovanni Report

Final score:
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#11

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Friend was in a video at a car meet that went viral back say 2011-2012. He said like 8 words and couldn’t see him but you could hear him. He would go around telling people after he is “famous” for being in a viral YouTube video. I was like “if you have to announce you are famous, you might not be as famous as you think Broski”

HoneyMussy4goodBoy Report

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Many of the people in these stories seem excited about having an online presence and are eager to keep growing their followers (possibly just so they can “act” more famous but that’s another conversation), but being famous online is not all it’s cracked up to be. Emma Bostian wrote a piece for Medium titled ‘The Dark Side of Internet Fame’, and she broke down some of the reasons why you just might want to avoid going viral. Emma, who has over 200k followers on Twitter, first notes that gaining popularity online quickly led her to become obsessed with her phone. “I went from spending about an hour each day on my phone, to upwards of five hours. It became a full-time job. I ended up disabling all notifications because I couldn’t focus,” Emma writes. “I was addicted.” Many of us already spend more hours than we would like to online, but with more followers comes more attention. And it can be very hard to tune those followers out.

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#12

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' In college, a girl I knew was elected Student Body Vice President. She almost instantaneously became the most insufferable person I've ever met, complaining about the plight of having the lives of 20000 people rest "in her hands." She would use it to try and get better service at restaurants. It was like something out of a comedy. We stopped being friends with her.

ElsaAlex , Fallon Michael Report

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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

20,000 students at a school? Damn, that's a lot. I don't think our university even has that much. Anyways, no excuse for her crappy behavior.

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Emma went on to note that gaining a bit of fame online also led to much more negativity being introduced to her life. Along with the followers come haters, and especially when someone has a large platform, people feel much more free to leave negative comments or call out an influencer. Emma gives the example of how she was mocked and not taken seriously as a Software Developer simply because she’s a woman. “All I wanted to do was defend myself, but it just made it worse,” she explained. “I wish I had better advice for dealing with these situations, but the truth is that they destroy your sense of self-worth and often lead to emotional breakdowns.” Most of us know what it feels like to have dealt with a bully in school or an older sibling who picks on us, but it can be much harder to ignore hundreds or thousands of people online who are constantly inserting their opinions on your life. Personally, I would much rather have nobody watching me than have people watching me and hoping I fail.

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#13

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I entered a blog competition to my uni the summer before I started. I won, and myself and two others were given a free laptop on the understanding we'd keep publishing blogs as 'Insiders' for the uni to use as a marketing tool. I put one up a week, and enjoyed it. They were decently entertaining and linked to on the uni website, but probably got no more than a few dozen reads.

On my birthday a few months into the year the bouncers at a club wouldn't let me in as I appeared too drunk. I got into a pedantic argument with them about whether the pavement was public property or not, then shouted at them I was going to write about it in my Uni-sanctioned blog.

I woke up hungover the next day and *did not* write about the incident in my uni-sanctioned blog.

Fascinatedwithfire , Fabian Albert Report

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Alienking06
Alienking06
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey, I'm happy that you didn't and that you recognize that you should not have.

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#14

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Back in the day when I played WOW there was a guy on my server who had a tiny amount of name recognition. He was good at the game and spent a lot of time and energy organizing things. People on the server knew him and would ask for his help, or show him deference in order to get his attention on things.

One day he put together an optional raid and at the end of the raid a particularly rare item dropped. Instead of an open roll - which was the standard at the time - he simply gave the item to his friend. When people complained, he said something like, "I'm so and so, I'm the most important raid leader on this server, you're all lucky to even be here right now, so shut up and deal with it."

Well screenshots were taken and links were sent around. Dude ended up transferring off the server less than a week later because nobody would give him the time of day.

shaidyn , ELLA DON Report

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#15

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' A classmate of mine got invited to a pyramid scheme through instagram. She started planning her entire influencer career. Got real mad when I wrote an extensive explanation on what a pyramid scheme is, and showed her I’d gotten dozens of those DM’s before.

heyitsamb , Mikhail Nilov Report

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Having an audience can also add a lot of pressure to our lives. Emma mentions that she has “productivity FOMO”, meaning that she always feels like she must be creating something or she’s falling behind. When someone gains a following and has many people watching, they can feel like they have to deliver or live up to their followers’ expectations or they don’t deserve to have their support. Because of this, Emma also writes that she has often felt imposter syndrome and wondered if she is actually competent. It’s never healthy to put too much pressure on ourselves, but it can be very easy to slip into a pattern of doing that when there are thousands or millions of eyes on you. 
#16

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I used to have a friend that became one of the most insufferable [jerks] you could imagine because he got 200 followers on Instagram

Klurd , cottonbro Report

Final score:
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Philenzortia
Philenzortia
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My cat has almost 5000 and he’s cool about it. Who in gods name brags about having 200 followers????? Edit: His insta is @cocoloco.cat :)

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#17

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' My ex girlfriend (bless her soul) had a Tiktok get to 1m views which I thought was cool! But she developed this notion that she all of a sudden had a dedicated and fanatical audience she had to please and thus TikTok,IG, and Twitter became her life and posted her entire existence (by extension me) This went on for some time till she recognized the addiction and left TikTok.

Ok-Breakfast-5790 , Laura Chouette Report

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#18

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Not internet fame but my buddy’s father unfortunately passed but he inherited like 700k. Well he bought himself and his wife a great house (we’re all 30) and now him and his wife spend their time telling us we need to be buying houses. They think they earned that money and it makes me boil.

mibbledibbley , Zac Gudakov Report

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Shari Dubs
Shari Dubs
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nothing like being "self-made" to cause someone to look down on others. Smh.

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In theory, influencers are beloved by their followers and have a massive audience that will purchase whatever they promote and support their life choices. In reality, however, not everybody is a fan of these social media stars. One survey of over 4,000 consumers in the UK, France and Germany found that 62% of respondents believe influencer marketing takes advantage of impressionable audiences, more than half think influencers are too materialistic, and over half also believe that influencers misrepresent real life. Those don’t really sound like traits that most people would want to be associated with…   

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#19

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I used to answer the unsolicited submissions email box for a very large consumer products company - basically the address where people sent in ideas, be they marketing or products or whatever.

I can’t tell you the number of people who tried to sell us a license to their “hit viral song” that had “nearly 10,000 views on YouTube.”

I appreciate the hustle but no one is paying to use a song with 10,000 YouTube plays. That is not “viral” or “famous.”

CorpCounsel , Yogas Design Report

Final score:
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KING ILLEGAL FOREST
KING ILLEGAL FOREST
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to review unsolicited letters and emails for a literary agency. It is utterly amazing how many people think they can write a self-help book on subjects they know next to nothing about.

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#20

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Not a friend of mine, but someone I know through a mutual friend. He's a 'streamer' and occasionally he will hop in discord with us to talk with said mutual friend. But, being a 'streamer', he's pretty much always streaming whenever he's on/gaming... And he will talk to his stream while sitting in our discord, won't even mute himself, and will literally just talk over other peoples' conversations in discord.

And some of us will rightfully be like "wtf?" and his response is always "can't help it guys, I'm a streamer, can't leave my stream hanging"... His stream will literally have like 5-10 viewers max at any given time, and he's been streaming for years.

Its f*****g embarrassing and everyone ridicules him. Him being IRL friends/coworkers with the previously mentioned mutual friend is the only reason anyone *tolerates* his presence. And I use *tolerate* extremely loosely, everyone hates him and wants him blocked, but we're all good friends with the mutual friend, so no one is trying to stir up s**t over that idiot since he only occasionally comes around.

Hartagon , Yan Krukov Report

Final score:
82points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think someone need to sit down, off stream, and have a serious talk with this guy.

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#21

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I worked with a guy and every time he met someone new he had to tell them he was an actor. He had a YouTube channel with 47 subscribers and called himself something embarrassing for a man his age.

Graceland1979 , Patrick T'Kindt Report

Final score:
81points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If I meet someone like this I instantly know I can't be friends with them.

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We are also all well aware of the negative effects social media can have on young people’s mental health and self-confidence, and influencers do not get to plead innocent as far as that is concerned. The typical influencer only shows a highlight reel of their life online and is likely to edit how they look in photos beyond recognition. Young followers may see this content and feel like their lives are way too boring and uneventful because they are not jet-setting around the world and posting photos from beautiful beaches every week. And when influencers edit their faces and bodies to look differently than they do in real life, followers might gain a warped sense of what they are ‘supposed’ to look like and feel pressure to manipulate their own bodies. The fact is that influencers are often not very upfront about their real lives online, and it does not do any good for impressionable followers.  

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#22

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' This girl I went to school with was an... aspiring actress. She was in some low quality YouTube short film and she basically was trying to convince everyone that she was famous and that all these companies wanted her because of it. She even had these head shots that she would bring into class to show everyone... and nobody cared. She really thought she was better than everyone and even acted like a celebrity. Like she would come in with sunglasses and basically treat everyone as if they shouldn't even be breathing the same air as her. It was honestly sad.

shroomssoup , Dmitriy Zub Report

Final score:
80points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She needed intervention and to see a therapist. I wonder how she acted around her parents.

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#23

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I saw someone once act like they controlled the whole internet in person, threatening to show videos she recorded to her "leagion of fans".

She had 1,000 followers. On instagram. No other big followings.

the_original_toast , Ivan Samkov Report

Final score:
76points
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#24

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Back in high school I commented on a Childish Gambino instagram post and it got a like from the account. I proceeded to tell every single person in my class; my friends were singing my praises: that’s so cool, wow THE Childish Gambino, you probably got the biggest celebrity acknowledgement via social media, etc.

I find out later it was a Childish Gambino fan account with the same profile pic that liked my comment. I never told anyone.

kzo_shadow , NASA HQ PHOTOFollow Report

Final score:
74points
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If you really want to be an influencer, please don’t end up like any of the people on this list (if they even count as influencers). Use your platform to promote some good in the world. Don’t take paid sponsorships from fast fashion brands who are polluting the planet or companies that promote dangerous products like “weight loss pills”. Discuss real issues with your followers, such as how they can reduce their carbon footprints and how they can help others around the world. Maybe if you donate some money to help Ukraine win the war Russia is waging against them, your followers will do the same. Being an influencer is not for everyone, and perhaps it should not be for anyone. But if you have influence over others, please use it responsibly. And if you don’t have it, you might actually want to be thankful for that. 
#25

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Corey Worthington. Had to Google him to remember his name but he was this stupid kid who threw a party in 2008 that he blasted on Facebook & hundreds ended up showing up. The cops came. The neighbourhood went crazy. The media showed up. He tried to milk that one night for years. These days people just remember him as that dumb kid who threw a party & looked like a tool.

OldTiredAnnoyed , Jacob Bentzinger Report

Final score:
69points
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#26

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I started a fantasy football podcast with some friends a few years ago and after one episode with like 5 plays, I thought, “Man, this is easy. We’ll get big in no time.” So I talked to the guys about setting up a Patreon and seeing what they thought about talking to fantasy football platforms to be their official podcast lol.

The high of sharing something you created with the world like it’s god’s gift to mankind. We went on to do the show for a couple years and definitely tempered our expectations after a few episodes, but it was a lot of fun either way.

kingbuttshit , cottonbro Report

Final score:
63points
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#27

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Just go to any anime conventions, some volunteer staffers would abuse the slightest amount of power they have to make everyone's life difficult. This isn't just the ones you see on the floor but it can go all the way to the top of the food chain.

Don't trust me? Go volunteer at your closest anime convention, you will be disgusted.

I knew a guy who was probably bullied all his life but he had a high ranking position at the local con. He once fired a volunteer because they looked at him the wrong way.

That being said, I did meet some really good and kind hearted people volunteering. The sad thing is that they eventually get burnt out by those assholes.

Vaivaim8 Report

Final score:
57points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's really sad when the good ones are driven out by the bad ones.

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Is this list making you hate influencers? We hope you're amused by these cringey stories, and I hope you have not personally encountered anyone who deserves a spot on this list. Keep upvoting the stories of people you find most obnoxious, and then let us know in the comments how you feel about individuals who let a tiny bit of fame go to their heads. And then if you're interested in checking out another Bored Panda article calling out influencers, you can find one right here.

#28

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' I remember this guy about a decade ago (forgot his name) who did some comedy videos, but mostly made super niche metal music that was themed around some heavy handed fantasy story he wrote ("the Thalrogs are fighting the Bromthean war against the Melohomiroglites," type s**t).

Anyways, he had like 10k subs and then one day uploaded a video basically yelling at his fans and blaming them for not making him a famous rockstar. Totally missing the forest for the trees saying things like "you all just want my comedy videos but none of you buy my music, f**k you," over and over again on video before shutting down his channel.

zachtheperson , Jakayla Toney Report

Final score:
55points
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#29

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' Ages ago the Washington Post used to have a free tabloid, one page featured quotes from various local blog posts.

My blog would get quoted sometimes and I'd think it was sort of neat, but some of the other bloggers got OBSESSED and would, like, go scoop up a thousand copies of the tabloid to hoard because they were now Famous Bloggers.

rotatingruhnama , Marcus Silva Report

Final score:
53points
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Were they the type to "Hey did you know I was in the tabloids? Here, look"?

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#30

30 Cringy And Embarrassing People Who Got Totally Blindsided By Their Internet 'Fame' An Ex of mine ran a Pokémon RP forum in the late 2000s, even designed the art for Fakemons of her own and coded the site and everything.

And boy howdy, did she think she was an absolute GOD to the like, 6 people that used that forum. Nobody even inflated her ego about it, it was as if she had stuck a bicycle pump directly to her head and never stopped pumping.

In a non-negative context she really did put A LOT of effort into the site and art and lore and I understand why she was disappointed all that work never amounted to anything but she took everything as an almost literal, purposeful attack on her digital baby. Her one Mod wasn't present for the site's official Launch Date and you'd have thought the Mod tossed her dog off a bridge. Again, she had ever right to be proud of the work she put in, honestly it was pretty great and took a lot of time and dedication- but it really, really went to her head and ego. Hell I even got scolded for not attending opening day- a date I wasn't even told about.

anon Report

Final score:
48points
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Note: this post originally had 46 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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