In 2019 social media influencer Tiffany Mitchell responded to the criticism she’d received after sharing photos of a bike crash.

Image: Instagram/tifforelie / Instagram/tifforelie via Buzz Feed News

Across the world, social media is as popular now as it’s ever been with the public. Indeed, for certain people in today’s society, services such as Facebook and Twitter play an integral role in their lives. Tiffany Mitchell is one such individual, and she focuses her attention on Instagram.

A resident of Nashville, Tennessee, Mitchell runs her own lifestyle blog called “tifforelie” that covers a range of different topics. In addition, she also has an Instagram page boasting in excess of 4,500 posts. So with that in mind, it’s perhaps easy to see why the social media user has been dubbed an “influencer.”

Much like a traditional celebrity, certain social media users have the ability to influence their followers through their content. For instance, these people can sometimes push particular “brands” on their pages. And in keeping with that, Mitchell references a few “paid partnerships” in some of her posts.

However, Mitchell faced a great deal of criticism in the summer of 2019 following one of her posts. The Nashville resident had been involved in a motorcycle crash at that time, and she put up several photos of herself that had been taken in the aftermath. The images were greeted with something of a backlash, which she felt the need to respond to.

In recent years, countless people have embraced social media for a whole host of reasons. Whether it’s to stay in touch with friends or to spread awareness about certain activities, the services can prove to be very useful tools. And given the number of options that are available now, users can choose which option best fits their needs.

For a lot of users, Facebook remains the ideal social media service, as it covers plenty of bases. Indeed, it not only allows you to post lengthy messages, but it also gives you the option to share photographs. In addition, Facebook can be used to advertise events, too.

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Meanwhile, other individuals might prefer Twitter due to the simplicity of the service. All tweets have a character restriction, meaning that messages usually get straight to the point. On top of all that, users have the ability to share videos and pictures in their posts as well.

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Away from Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is also a viable alternative for social media users. It’s primarily a photo-sharing website, although people can post messages and brief video clips on their accounts if they want to. It’s certainly proved to be a popular option in the past few years and boasts some impressive numbers.

Instagram welcomed one million people to the website in December 2010, just a couple of months on from the service first going live. By October 2011 it had around ten million registered users. Following that the figures have continued to rise, with the site reaching one billion members in the spring of 2019.

As for the images, it’s believed that Instagram already hosted more than 40 billion photographs from users come October 2015. But despite its undoubted popularity, the service didn’t rest on its laurels during that period, as it added a brand-new feature in mid-2016. At that point, “Instagram Stories” was introduced.

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This feature allowed users to post images and videos that would then be deleted at the end of the day. Later that year, live videos could be posted on Instagram Stories as well, albeit with a caveat. Compared to the 24-hour limit on the other content, these posts would vanish upon their conclusion.

That particular stipulation was subsequently changed in June 2017, however. At that time, people were given the option of either deleting the videos straight away or keeping them up for a full day. In addition, people were finally able to look at Instagram Stories via the service’s website later that summer.

And since Instagram made its bow online back in 2010, many users have been able to build a following through their content. In some cases, these individuals go on to earn the tag of a social media “influencer.” Tiffany Mitchell is one such person, as her posts consistently generate large responses.

Mitchell has in excess of 200,000 followers on Instagram, and many of her posts have earned thousands of likes. The content ranges from personal photos to “paid partnerships” with brands such as Cracker Barrel Cheese and Panera Bread. As for why people feel the need to follow these influencers, some interesting explanations have been offered up.

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Sara Tasker, who plies her trade as an Instagram coach, told BBC News in August 2019 that potential followers are looking for something quite specific. “Audiences might say they want more reality,” she stated. “But when it comes to what’s being shown to them on the feed, what people choose is the really beautified version of reality.”

“They don’t want to see the washing-up, the cat sick, the kitchen sink,” Tasker continued. “From an influencer’s perspective, you want to post things the audience want to see, because it gets more promoted if more people are looking at it.” And her thoughts on the subject didn’t end there.

Off the back of that, Tasker then touched upon the negativity that such users face in comparison to famous people who also try to influence their followers. “I think there’s an unfair sense that influencers have no talent beyond content creation,” she added. “So we hold them to much higher standards in their work.”

While those influencers might have to deal with such criticism, Mitchell faced down outrage of a different kind in 2019. That summer, the Nashville resident made an Instagram post containing a number of photographs. And unlike her previous content, these images were quite startling.

Alongside the pictures, Mitchell wrote up a lengthy message as well, detailing what happened. “This is me and my bike about an hour before I got into an accident,” the blogger stated. “If you watched my stories Sunday you know all about it, but if you didn’t, here’s the scary, magical series of events.”

At that point, Mitchell revealed that she’d been out on the road with a couple of acquaintances, including a photographer named Lindsey Grace Whiddon. Together they looked to take some photos in a Tennessee village ahead of their return to Nashville. As the evening started to draw in, however, the crash occurred.

“On a secluded two-lane stretch, I misjudged a curve, took it too fast and my bike went off the road,” Mitchell recalled. “It slid through the grass and I hit the pavement. I had my helmet on so my head was fine, but I scraped up my left side. I was in absolute shock laying on the side of the road.”

From there, Mitchell highlighted the photos that Whiddon had taken of her in the aftermath of the accident. Lying prone on the ground, the Instagram user was being comforted by a man kneeling beside her. The emergency services had reportedly got there fairly quickly, while her bike was eventually returned to Nashville.

Moreover, the incident unearthed some heart-breaking memories for Mitchell, as her then-partner had been killed in a motorbike crash in 2016. In fact, the Instagram influencer even toyed with the idea of staying off her bike altogether in the aftermath of that tragedy. And following this latest crash, those doubts entered her mind again.

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“The next day I could barely move I was so sore, and I texted my mom (who raised me on the back of HER motorcycle) to tell her what happened,” Mitchell wrote. “I was so nervous, but her response was magic. She asked if I would ever ride again, I said yes.”

“[My mom] told me she was so glad I was okay, and that she’s had her share of close calls too,” Mitchell added. “Then she said it all, ‘Life is a gift and an adventure.’ YESSS.” Off the back of that, the blogger mentioned that she was tending to her injured arm, before bringing the message to a close.

Unfortunately for Mitchell, though, her post went on to generate a highly negative response, as users raised a few questions. Some believed that Whiddon shouldn’t have taken the pictures given the situation, while others queried the validity of the crash. One aspect of the images in particular drove people to that conclusion.

While Mitchell had been on the ground injured, two branded water bottles had been placed next to her helmet, including one from SmartWater. Due to their positioning in one of the shots, many viewers speculated that this was actually an elaborate advert and that the crash had been staged. At that point, Mitchell felt the need to delete the post from her page.

As online users continued to debate the veracity of Mitchell’s story, Whiddon then offered her account of what happened. “Looking back at the photos, I can see why they seem so staged,” she told BBC News. “And, if I hadn’t been there myself, I might also have a hard time believing they weren’t.”

Whiddon added, “I can tell you on my own personal and professional integrity that not only were they un-staged, Tiffany had no idea they were being taken until hours later.” And while the photographer tried her best to defend Mitchell, the latter had a response of her own to the backlash. She decided to use Instagram Stories to speak out.

Mitchell looked to address a number of issues that had been raised, including questions about her lack of suitable biking attire. According to the Nashville resident, she’d been wearing the right trousers and boots for the journey, as well as her helmet. Then, she touched upon the biggest complaint.

“I got a lot of negative [posts] questioning why I’d take photos during an accident, and why I was glamorizing an accident,” Mitchell said. “There was no brand work being done at all. My friend Lindsey documents everything. No photos were taken until everyone knew I was okay. I didn’t know that Lindsey was taking photos.”

On that note, Mitchell spoke about the bottles one more time, before switching her focus to the images. “The water could have been any brand – the water was brought to me because I was laying there,” she added. “When [Lindsey] showed me the photos, I was so grateful for them. Having a moment that was that intense documented, I appreciate that.”

However, that didn’t signal the end of this particular story, as Mitchell subsequently found herself on the back foot again. After receiving an interview request from the BuzzFeed news website in August 2019, the blogger implored it not to run an article, as she feared it would inspire further negative reactions. But BuzzFeed nonetheless pressed ahead with the piece.

Mitchell’s fears were soon realized following the publication of the story, as more ridicule came her way. Unsurprisingly, she looked to defend herself once again, writing up a lengthy message on Instagram. Alongside her words, she also included a photo of herself sat on a motorcycle and clad in biker gear.

“I want to talk about the reactions I’ve been getting to the article BuzzFeed posted sensationalizing what I went through that day, and making a mockery of the post I shared,” Mitchell wrote. “As a result, I’ve been accused of staging the accident to get attention, [and] using it as a product placement opportunity with a water company.”

After that, Mitchell reiterated her position on the social media website, in an attempt to clear things up. According to her, Instagram has proven to be an important outlet in helping Mitchell deal with some difficult issues. She continued, “I’ve been sharing real life stories here since I started my account.”

“I’ve opened up about miscarriage, divorce, anxiety, losing my partner in a moto accident three years ago and navigating the grief that followed,” Mitchell stated. “I’ve chosen to use Instagram as a tool for healing and connecting with other humans who may be going through similar things, so we can do it together. And it’s been beautiful.”

Furthermore, Mitchell insisted that she always makes it clear whenever a post is advertising a certain brand. Then, the Instagram user recounted what happened to her after the crash one more time, recounting all of the details. And once she’d finished with that, she had something else to say.

“I shared this on my feed with humans who have been on a journey with me for years, because I knew they would understand what it meant to me,” Mitchell wrote. “And I understood what it would mean to them. I’m sad that something so true and personal has been treated this way.”

So with that in mind, Mitchell had one last thing to add on the matter. “If you’re here because of [the BuzzFeed article], consider that the post I made was something real that happened in my life that resonated deeply with me and those who have chosen to follow me,” she wrote. “That’s what it was intended for.”