The most annoying people on social media, aside from cyberbullies, are gatekeepers.

I can understand why people would gatekeep their favorite micro-trend, music artist or content creator. These people feel protective of what they found first.

What I don’t understand is why people get upset when the inevitable happens on social media: their niche gets discovered.

In the age of social media, there will always be people who hate on others’ success. To me, the most confusing type of hate is when supporters change their minds about what brings them joy once that specific thing goes viral.

When I was younger, I had a friend who loved playing with makeup and watching makeup tutorials on YouTube.

After she realized that following makeup tutorials was incredibly popular, she suddenly decided she didn’t like makeup anymore and started making fun of me for wanting to mess around with makeup.

Surprisingly, we aren’t friends anymore, and one of the reasons is her decision to make fun of me for liking something that was trending at the moment.

It shocks me how narrow and selfish someone can be to love something, yet be upset that other people now love the same thing.

I understand that not everyone is like this, and that only a few people have this attitude, but people with this level of negativity still surprise me.

What I do recognize is how easy it is to become a gatekeeper because I have been one too.

One of my favorite artists of all time is Fleetwood Mac, and even though I don’t believe they were ever unpopular after their album “Rumors” came out, I felt a little overprotective when they started trending on TikTok in September of 2020.

During that time, Fleetwood Mac’s song “Dreams” went viral again, reaching Billboard’s top 10, 43 years after it first came out.

As a listener, I felt like everyone else had found my niche through making my favorite artist popular again.

I took a year off from listening to their music and rediscovered Fleetwood Mac again in early 2022.

Naturally, I fell back in love with their music, and they were one of my top five artists in 2025.

When I look back now, I see I was being dramatic. I shouldn’t have let my favorite artist’s popularity dampen my love for them.

After these experiences as a gatekeeper and receiving hate for my interests, I realize that people whose passions are shaped by what’s trending are not real fans; they’re just trend followers.

When I’ve interacted with people like this, I can never have a genuine conversation; they can only talk in internet slang or about what’s popular.

I’ve noticed that I can’t have meaningful relationships with people who base their personality on the newest trend. Without authentic experiences beyond the latest craze, are we really friends?

There is nothing wrong with staying current, but I believe these people have not had a chance to look into who they truly are because they are so engrossed by their phones.

Social media can very quickly define who you are, and the idea of this is very appealing to people who don’t want to take the time to look too deeply into who their authentic self is.

I am not saying that it’s bad to phase out of past interests; that is completely natural and something we need to do as humans.

We need to focus on being true to ourselves and learn that just because your niche starts to go viral, your love does not have to lessen.

Everybody is complex and has different interests that range from popular trends to things only a handful of people love.

If your favorite specific fashion choice becomes popular, such as chunky sunglasses, don’t let that bother you; it is just a phase, and the hype will die down.

Trends don’t last forever, nor do our interests.

I urge you to recognize this and evaluate how your passions make you feel. Do they bring you joy, or are you just going along with the newest thing your friends are interested in?

To find what makes us different, we shouldn’t look for answers on TikTok or Instagram; we can lose ourselves in our algorithms. We should look within ourselves to find what makes us stand out.

When we find our niche, we shouldn’t let it be influenced by what our peers or strangers on social media think.