How social media influencers navigate popularity with their followers

The Cambridge Dictionary has named ldquoParasocialrdquo its word of the year for 2025 defined as the onesided emotional connection people form with public figures theyrsquove never met A 2016 study by Research Gate found that adolescents who had interacted even just through a reply or retweet with media personalities on social platforms reported significantly stronger parasocial relationships than those who hadnrsquotIn a digital climate already shaped by male insecurity transitioning gender roles and hypervisibility parasocial attachment emerges as the gentler cousin of trollingShweta Mahadik a DIY creator with 12 million followers sits at the softer end of parasocial attachment Her comment section is filled with gentle familial affection mdash people telling her they ldquofeel like they know herrdquo ldquoA lot of mothers share with me how their daughters are inspired by my art and that really makes me happyrdquo she says Her followers treat her page like a cheerful corner of the internet For Mahadik this kind of parasocial warmth feels more like community than intrusionBut even the gentlest admiration can bend the boundary During Ganesh Chaturthi this year her viral deacutecor brought crowds of strangers to her doorstep Women from nearby buildings entire groups of visitors all ringing her bell because they felt welcome in her life ldquoIt was nice they wanted to seerdquo she says ldquobut it was a bit strange toordquo The affection remains harmless but the ease with which people step into her world hints at how quickly online familiarity can spill into real lifeOn the other hand Ruchika Lohiya a 24yearold poet and storyteller who performs across India has learned that standing out online comes with its own emotional weight When she recently posted about feeling unsafe in Delhi the comments turned harsh and mocking ldquoPeople generalise all the influencers so they said that only we have such incidents to talk about Normal people never face anything like itrdquo Lohiya said People accused her of exaggeration calling her ldquodramaticrdquo even threatening her with ldquoAb tu aa DelhirdquoThe sharper boundary appeared when a male follower began showing up at every show she performed mdash in multiple cities ldquoHe travelled to each venue carrying bangles and sarees for me It made me very uncomfortable because I have no idea what his motives are even if they are purerdquo Lohiya asked her manager to intervene Social media makes it easy for strangers to map her life so she now hides her door avoids showing the layout of her home and reveals only fragments of her routineThe emotional engine humming beneath these stories mirrors the one driving the trolling Both grow from the same digital soil of insecurity loneliness blurred boundaries and the fantasy that influencers exist for personal consumption Saloni Daini who makes comic content sees this slippage constantly with men who adore her comedy yet message her with commands insisting she ldquostick tordquo what they want as if her creative choices belong to them ldquoI donrsquot indulge in these DMs but some of them go as far as to command me to not try acting I donrsquot know why they think they have the authority to convey that to merdquo she questions Parasocial affection and hostile trolling look like opposites but they share a root with strangers convinced their imagined relationship grants them controlVisibility does come with a strange tax Women influencers arenrsquot just watched Theyrsquore interpreted imagined claimed The digital stage expands a womanrsquos reach but it also expands the private emotional worlds of the men who watch her