What It’s Like Being “Famous” on The Internet

Two years ago, I stumbled across a site called Quora, a Q&A site with a lot of thoughtful, intelligent responses to all types of questions. Within days, I’d made my own account and started writing answers. Within weeks, I’d attracted a couple of followers. Then a couple more. The number slowly rose over the months, reaching fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand. Except it didn’t stop. I kept writing answers and people kept reading them, more and more of them, pouring into the site from all over the world and paying attention to what I had to say.

I was confronted with a lot of feelings regarding my newfound popularity, but one of the main ones was shock. I hadn’t expected to become popular, ever, in any manner. I tend to be an introverted person, holing up when I get overwhelmed in the company of others, retreating for breaks, cherishing my free time. My escapes are writing, reading, drawing, and similar things that make my brain happy. Don’t get me wrong; I love spending time with people. I just also love being alone.

My first experience with any type of popularity was when I was twelve and I found a site called Wattpad and wrote a chapter book on it. It was pretty awful by most standards, though good for a twelve-year-old. It got 17,000 reads, which shocked and amazed me. And that, I thought, was the end of my internet fame…