From sponsors to socialism: the return of Instagram star Essena O’Neill
Four years after she deleted her popular social media profiles the Australian influencer is back, with a message
Four years before Blake Lively realised that wiping her old posts could be a great source of publicity; four years before Caroline Calloway exploded into popular consciousness or Tavi Gevinson meticulously unpacked her own adolescent self-branding efforts, Essena O’Neill deleted her Instagram account. The Australian influencer had amassed 600,000+ followers. She’d been paid $2,000 a post for #sponcon.
O’Neill grew up on Instagram. She joined the platform at the age of 14 and by 19 it had become her primary source of income, validation and affection. It was 2015, and she was sick of it.