The Internet is an ambivalent place. While some feel safer showing their true selves, others get hated for who they are or get labels that do not necessarily reflect the truth. Working on social media accounts and her blog for more than 5 years and being an owner of a social media agency “Nioly Media Group”, Polina Nioly encountered different haters, learned how to deal with them, and even figured out her way to use hate as a tool for promotion.
Success Breeds Haters
Polina Nioly received hate comments for being transparent by showing her everyday life, sharing her income and expenses, and talking about her business and the life she created for herself. Hate can come in different forms and on any matter. And by choosing to be vulnerable on social media, you attract both supporters and haters.
Polina has her view on hate. She deeply believes that some hate comments are not only about mean and judgemental people. If you dig deeper, it can be a sign that you have simply reached success and made people jealous of you. Indeed, success triggers some people and makes them hate. In one of her TikToks Polina Nioly shares:
“Them: “stop showing off”, “humble yourself”, “bragging about your success is annoying”
What they actually mean: your success makes them uncomfortable and they want to drag you back to their level”
Therefore, Polina’s solution to dealing with hate lies in its interpretation. Success breeds hate and it is something everyone should understand. To comfort people going through the same experience, Polina Nioly even created a TikTok with the following message:
“Important reminder: your success WILL make people uncomfortable. they’ll be triggered by your growth and they’ll do anything to bring you down.”
Polina is not afraid to be bold in her statements and shows the reality that comes with money and success. Therefore, she often addresses this topic on social media:
“Society cheers you up ONLY until you actually succeed…Once you succeed, they’ll dehumanize you.”
Polina Nioly seems very resistant to hate and knows how to use it for her benefit. Let’s see her go-to methods to deal with hate comments on social media.
Advice on Dealing With Hate
Based on personal and the Nioly Media Group’s clients’ experience, Polina Nioly created her strategy to manage hate. Try following these principles and do not let hate comments get you down.
Understand That It Is Not About You
It is not about you for two reasons. Firstly, the truth is that people leaving hate comments are not the happiest in this world. There must be something going on in their lives and they can easily get triggered and let their negative comments out. If it was not you, they could get mad at any other person on the Internet or in real life.
Secondly, all your followers see and know about you is what you choose to show them in posts, 15-second-long stories, Reels, or TikToks. The information is limited, and people perceive and distort it however they want. Do you share your most fun part of the day, going out with friends or doing the shopping? You are just a rich kid spending your parents’ money.
Chances are that they never met you in real life and have no clue about who you really are. But you know yourself pretty well. Everyone has their truth, but your truth should matter the most, especially when it comes to exposing yourself on social media.
After realizing that hate comments are not about you and are only based on subjective distorted perceptions, you will no longer see any sense or value in paying attention to them.
Empower Your Self-confidence
Another way to deal with hate is to boost your self-confidence. Look back at your journey and see how many achievements you have so far, both big and small. A lot of people are too insecure and not brave enough to even start a blog. And you are already doing great by taking the risk of doing what you like or what fits your other goals. Acknowledge your achievements and be kinder to yourself.
Address Hate
You can not only read hate comments but also address them if you feel comfortable doing so and ready to teach haters. They often operate with incomplete or fake information, and you have all the resources, to tell the truth. This way you can break rumors, strengthen your image, and show that you are not scared to address controversial topics going around.
Polina is not shy to show her successful life and share her income and daily expenses but is also happy to explain where she gets the money from and what her job is. To spite the haters believing she comes from a privileged family and has an influential sugar daddy supporting her, she exposes the rumors and talks about her business and how she got out of poverty and became a millionaire.
Of course, if this exposing approach doesn’t fit your image on the Internet or you are not comfortable with it, you don’t have to push yourself to talk about personal things. However, sometimes this might even inspire other people to face their insecurities and stand up for themselves.
Keep On Going
You have your reasons to share what you post on social media and no other people’s opinion should stop you from doing what you like, be it blogging, working in SMM, or even starting a career in a completely new industry for you. Polina Nioly’s experience proves it all.
When Polina was just entering the movie industry and sharing her experience online, she received a lot of comments saying she would not be able to make it (“You’ll never be in movies”, “you’ll never become an actress, your accent is too strong”). In the end, she got filmed in WarHunt (2022) starring Mickey Rourke, and became a producer of two movies. And she created a TikTok on this to show her journey, mock haters, and motivate others to pursue their dreams despite the hate that might come with it.
After all, hate is irrational and you should not take it personally. It can be triggered by little things that have nothing to do with you. But what you can do is nourish your confidence and see negative comments and jealousy as one of the signals of your success. And do not be afraid to be bold sometimes and address hate. It is a great way to boost your confidence and show that you respect yourself and don’t want to be mistreated for no reason.
