Who are the real people behind these carefully crafted Twitter and Instagram personas?

The Independent looks at the individuals and life-stories lurking behind these key social media accounts

Melissa Broder anonymously set up So Sad Today in 2012 after going through a difficult phase of panic attacks and anxiety (Getty Images)

Social media is something of a parallel universe. The figures that exist and excel within it remain shrouded by the mask of their avatar. For this reason, it can be hard to decipher who the actual individuals behind the Internet personalities are.

It can also be difficult to know where the person you devoutly follow is based. For all you know, the person behind that carefully curated Instagram page or side-splittingly funny Twitter feed is sitting in their dressing gown in the darkest depths of Texas or closer to home in Bognor Regis.

To get a sense of the actual people behind Twitter personalities and Instagram personas, The Independent took a look at the people behind an eclectic array of accounts.

So Sad Today

It would be fair to say @SoSadToday’s Twitter account is one of most razor-sharp, whimsical and astute accounts in the Twittersphere. But it is also one of the darkest. Tweets include: “help me not be myself”, “she died as she lived, tweeting while crossing the street”.

Melissa Broder anonymously set up the account in 2012 after going through a difficult phase of panic attacks and anxiety. The Twitter account gave her a private platform to express her darkest thoughts and feelings. It wasn’t until summer of 2015 that she decided to be open about her identity.

Broder grew up in Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania and studied in Boston before going on to do a Masters in New York. She currently lives in Venice Beach in California and works as Director of Media and Special Projects at NewHive. Writing a great deal in her spare time, she has gone on to write a column for Vice and also published a book So Sad Today: Personal Essays in March in the wake of her popular Twitter account.

Even now her face can never be glimpsed on the Twitter account. Instead, the avatar remains a pink and black eye superimposed onto a kaleidoscope-type pattern. So Sad Today explores the inherently relatable existential themes of sex, love, self-esteem and rejection in the contemporary world. The feed has garnered the following of Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus Petra Collins and Frances Bean Cobain.

‘The Fat Jew’

‘The Fat Jew’ is the definition of an Instagram comedian and social media personality. He has amassed such an Instagram following - 8.3 million to be exact - that he has become a star in his own right. Known for his humorous images (him sitting in a bowl of chilli and garden tools) and videos (him teaching a spinning class for homeless New Yorkers on Citi Bikes), he has formulated a carefully crafted persona.

But who is the man behind it all? Born in New York and growing up in Manhattan's Upper West side, Josh Ostrovsky went to private school. While his mother was a nutritionist, his father was a radiologist. Having a taste for fame from an early age, he became a child actor, acquiring his first talent agent when he was just nine years old and auditioning for commercials and appearing in an advert for Hershey's chocolate syrup.

Obviously something of a rebel, Ostrovsky went on to be expelled from two universities before graduating with a degree in journalism. Following this, he became a member of rap group Team Facelift and embarked on a career as an entertainment reporter at the E! Network. But Ostrovsky decided to pack that all in and turn his attentions to social media.

While Josh Ostrovsky has never been anonymous, his internet personality is constructed, commodified and monetized. What's more, he sees the internet and real life as two totally different realms. Ostrovsky has a team of people working with him and he has essentially become a one-man-brand. Stella Artois, Apple, Budweiser and Burger king have all paid him for exposure to his vast audience. Famous for his viral memes and videos, he has become an influencer and a pop culture commentator who exerts power far beyond the Instagram bubble. He is a clear example of just how far social media can take you. Although, it hasn't been all plain sailing and he has come under heavy criticism for plagiarising jokes.

“Here’s the deal. I’m the future," he explains in his book Money, Pizza, Respect. "All the real adults who are reading this book may not want to accept it, but I’m telling you, it’s the truth. Yes, most people over 50 don’t understand what I do for a living or take me seriously, but does that really matter? They are all going to be retired or dead soon, and they won’t be able to say shit about the way the world is run.”

(Getty Images)

I’m A JSA claimant

@imajsaclaimant created the account after receiving a benefit sanction (having his benefits cut) for four weeks in December of 2013. “I lived without food, power and heating over the Christmas period which had a massively detrimental impact both mentally and physically,” he tells The Independent. He claims he had no choice but to remain anonymous as his life would have been made a misery if Job Centre staff had learned he was tweeting about them and about his experience of the welfare system.

“I started using social media as I felt very isolated. I was afraid to reveal it to friends and family so I joined Twitter. I found a community who offered attention, support and advice, and who were not concerned about my anonymity,” he says. “At that point I was using Twitter to help overcome the trauma I had been through, but over time this has changed and now I am able to signpost and try to help others.”

He never expected to be tweeting under the twitter handle for so long but it took longer than he thought to find work and the account ended up taking off, garnering a following of 13,000 and a dedicated following of left-wing activists, compassionate conservatives, journalists, academics, and those who had also had problems with the welfare system. He has continued with the account and runs a blog which explores similar issues of welfare reform. Preferring to remain anonymous, he lives near Taunton in Somerset and is currently in part-time work.