Instagram giveth, and Instagram taketh away — Brianna Madia has lived the full ‘influencer’ lifecycle. And she’s decided to tell the whole story the old-fashioned way: a book.
What happens when internet fame turns sour? Brianna Madia hit the Instagram scene in 2012. She quickly attracted throngs of followers with wildly popular posts of her charismatic dogs — who played ersatz children to her and her then-husband’s nomad lifestyle.
And it was all capped off with her illustrious desert home: a gargantuan, pumpkin-orange van, outfitted like an off-road behemoth from a “Mad Max” movie.
But within the span of a decade, that story changed dramatically. The van no longer stars in Madia’s posts, she’s divorced, and her popularity — though still increasing and inching toward 300,000 followers — has spawned internet threads like /r/MadiaSnark that host growing amounts of criticism toward the 31-year-old.
How did this happen? Why did it happen? And will it happen to other “influencers”? Madia’s story is the subject of her new book, “Nowhere for Very Long.” But in this episode of the GearJunkie podcast, she offers up some answers and truths she hasn’t spoken elsewhere.
