Persona vs Person (Olivia Rodrigo’s Wisdom)

“Something that I learned very early on is the importance of separating person versus persona. When people who don't know me are criticizing me, they're criticizing my persona, not my person.”
–Olivia Rodrigo

In 2020 I wrote about an idea I called the “Personality Pizza.” I said this: “A social media persona isn’t acting—it’s curating. I think of my personality and life as a pizza with many slices. My work is one slice. My friendships are another slice. My hobbies, my emotions, my family, my beliefs, are each their own slice. Developing a social media persona isn’t about creating an inauthentic pizza–it’s simply bringing just one or two slices of who you are to the table.”

Olivia Rodrigo is spot on with her assessment of criticism. I can’t imagine the barrage of trolls and simps in her comments and DMs every day. It’s probably overwhelming. But this separation of person and online persona is a smart place to start. 

Consistency is a problem every creator must solve for themselves. Drawing a Personality Pizza can help with this. Instead of overthinking every post, creators can lean on two or three components of their personality, and create content about those. 

Short form video has already become a lucrative path for creators, brands, and artists—and it will continue to be a powerful way forward. Do what you can to understand your social media persona as soon as you can.