Often individuals say, ‘wow it looks like you’re doing amazing on social media,’ or variations on that theme. Now, why whilst I, of course, do appreciate the positive affirmation as any only child would. I always feel compelled to remind these sycophants (I joke) that social media is nothing but smokes and mirrors. Truly, truly social media can range somewhere from, more or less, true to an echo of someone else’s reality.
And if you still don’t believe me….well here are some examples of brands that got rather caught using social media to perpetuate ideas that were rather less than true.
Away
This suitcase company set about to revolutionise the entire travel industry by offering luxury baggage at more affordable prices. Touted by celebrities such as Megan Markle, Serena Williams, Margot Robbie, Rashida Jones and Mandy Moore to name just a few. The brand itself was founded by Jen Rubio and Stephanie Korey - two ex Warby Parker executives with a strong background in social, which is perhaps why the brand boasts half a million followers on Instagram.
And looking at their social they look like the picture perfect of a thoroughly modern company - stunning aesthetics, celebrity endorsements up the wazoo, two female founders - heck one of them was a person of colour.
So far, so good - right?
Except here was the thing. Rubio and Korey were modelling their business on Warby Parker - a glasses manufacturer who disrupted an entire sector by producing on-trend glasses for half the price of their competitors. Suitcases, however, don’t really have the same ease of transport or manufacturing. This meant that whilst Away never wanted for demand, their supply was somewhat problematic.
This intense pressure led to an incredibly toxic environment with rampant racism, homophobia and overall just shitty management with staff expected to work all day, every day. It would seem the company was ruled by one clique, and if you weren’t ‘in’ you were almost certainly out.
Eventually, this all came out in a fairly explosive article by The Verge, which ended on this rather poignant line, ‘never work for your dream brand….it’ll kill you.’
2. Theranos
Ah, Theranos.
If you haven’t heard of this story then, frankly, I suggest you get googling because this story is wilder than any Hollywood movie. I would also recommend John Carreyrou’s exceptional book on the topic Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup or the podcast The Dropout - The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos both of which are breathtakingly powerful.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Theranos was a company that was founded by Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford drop out who modelled herself on Steve Jobs - check out that black polo - and who wanted, more than anything to be an entrepreneur.
So she had what was, on paper, a ruddy phenomenal idea. To create a blood test that with just a pinprick of blood could run the entire gamut of blood tests. With just the tiniest speck of blood Theranos’s devices could detect pregnancy, diabetes, cancer the whole ganse megila. And not only would it be better than traditional testing devices, but cheaper at only $2.90 a pop.
In theory that is.
It was such a great idea that at its height Theranos was valued at around $10 billion and Elizabeth Homles graced every front cover possible: Forbes, The New Yorker, Fortune, Inc. - Holmes was everywhere.
Except, here’s the kicker.
The entire brand was a fraud.
Theranos’s devices didn’t work and having already been put out to public consumption, through a contract with Wallgreens, they even put people in danger.
Now, Holmes is facing up to twenty years in jail, and even the most established media outlets are rethinking their open door policies to rich white women of privilege.
3. WeWork
Once upon a time Adam Neumann, a Jew hailing from the Holy Land no less, had a dream to create a workspace for entrepreneurs that would entirely change the modern day workspace. Boasting office space in thirty countries, WeWork became synonymous with the hipster aesthetic. A WeWork address added a level of glamour that your local Regus somehow lacked.
All of this, was spearheaded by Neumann himself, who towering at 6 foot 5 - particularly impressive in a country where most men, and I speak from personal experience, are smaller than the average.
Neumann created a cult like atmosphere around him and saw the company raise investment valued at a whopping $1.5 billion in 2015.
Which was, frankly, rather helpful as Neumann was spending money as quickly as it came in - hiring superstars like Lorde and Bastille to play at the company’s parties that generally also included an open bar and never-ending decadence. They were also hiring staff - many would argue - simply so they looked active. From personal experience and having visited most of the WeWorks in both Israel and England they also generally seemed to fit a certain aesthetic, if you know what I mean.
From the outside looking in WeWork looked like one roaring party.
Until it wasn’t.
Because when WeWork decided to go for an IPO they valued themselves at $15 billion. However, it turned out their entire valuation was little more than smoke and mirrors. Ultimately, they were worth the values of the properties which was absolutely not in line with their valuation. It also turned out that Neumann owned many of those properties. Oops.
And so began the fall of WeWork. The global pandemic didn’t help.
The future of WeWork looks tremendously uncertain, but their social media is still popping - their latest Instagram post garnered close to 1.5K likes and they still boast 624K followers. So there's that.
4. The Fyre Festival
The Fyre Festival was a behemoth utterly and truly created by social media and then immortalised in a phenomenal documentary by Netflix. I should add there is also one by Hulu - I have watched both because I went deep on this story, but for most of you one should suffice.
Essentially, The Fyre Festival was a dream imagined by Billy McFarland ‘a serial entrepreneur’ - a term which frankly I do believe is a delightful euphemism for asshole.
The festival was meant to be the epitome in luxury and to prove it McFarland paid top influencers more than a pretty penny to advertise. Famously, this included paying Kendall Jenner $250,00 for one sole post (she later paid a fine for her involvement in this), as well as others like Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski.
Headline acts also included Blink-182, Skepta, Claptone and Le Youth (frankly, I have never heard of most of them which is rather showing my age). It was the only place to be in the last week of April and the first week of May in 2017.
Whilst an aggressive social media campaign by Jerry Media saw stunning panoramic views, beautiful women and the image of ultimate luxury - the attendees arrived to what could best be described as a refugee camp.
It was, put simply, a shit show and McFarland is now serving six years in prison….
This shit storm actually started a, much needed conversation, on the sort of due diligence influencers need to do - because in the end everyone ended up looking up just a little bit stupid, still beautiful, but very very stupid.
5. The Kardashians
Ah the Kardashians and their love of photoshop - take a look at some of these beauties that proves that not everything is what it seems.
Here is Khloe Kardashain....one of these images has been photoshopped and one hasn't - can you guess which one?
I guess this kindof looks like Kim Kardashian
Now, of course, my title was somewhat provocative, but I do believe that we need to be extremely careful when comparing ourselves to others on social media. It can be so easy to fall down an Instagram rabbit hole that this one is prettier, or that one skinnier, richer etc.
But time and time again we hear about micro stories of influencers posing in front of cars that are not their own or using filters that utterly transform their body.
Be smart, be savvy and make sure that when on social media you are conscious of your own mental health.