The influencer that I have selected for my digital mentor assignment is Ilona Maher. In addition to being a popular digital content creator on various platforms, she is also a decorated Olympian. She is a member of the United States Women’s Rugby team, and this past summer, she and her teammates won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. I selected this individual as she is the athlete that sparked my interest in watching rugby. As an avid sports fan, I grew up watching and playing a variety of sports, including soccer, volleyball, and football. Despite this experience, rugby was a sport that I had little experience with. Leading up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, I began to see Ilona’s videos show up on my TikTok feed. Throughout many of these videos, she explained the rules of rugby and shared clips of her journey in preparing for the Olympics. Her videos introduced me to a sport that has now become one of my favorites to watch.
I analyzed her TikTok account and her Instagram account, both of which go by the handle @ilonamaher. From my analysis of these accounts, it is clear that she frequently posts on both of them, sometimes multiple times a day. In addition to that, the identity that she presents on these platforms is very sports, lifestyle, and humor-oriented. Much of her content details her rugby journey and associated events, her experience on Dancing With The Stars, as well as many meme/humor-based videos. Despite the lighthearted nature of her content, she has many examples of being a digital leader. As a professional athlete, Ilona maintains an extremely athletic physical appearance. This has led to a lot of negative comments being made about her appearance by trolls on her social media pages. To overshadow this negativity, she frequently makes content about her journey with body image issues and also makes content promoting body positivity. She uses her digital leadership position to spread positivity about all body types, especially athletic builds. Through this, she has created a digital space where her followers can feel confident in their appearance. To me, this is what defines her as a digital leader. She has taken the digital space of social media, which has frequently been deemed a source of body image issues, and turned it into a channel of positivity, self-confidence, and acceptance.
Prior to reviewing Ilona Maher’s social media accounts, I only knew her as an American rugby player and Olympian. Her content introduced thousands of social media users to the sport of rugby, and I assumed that was what the majority of her content focused on. After reviewing her presence and activity on social media, my perception of this individual has been radically changed. While she is an Olympian and rugby player, she is also a digital leader who uses her platforms as a force of good. She takes the negative comments that she receives and uses them to educate the public about the various body types that individuals can have. Overall, she has positioned herself as a digital role model on these platforms. Upon completing this analysis, one thing that I found that I would like to apply to my own social media is increasing the frequency of my posts. I do not post very often on TikTok or Instagram, but these are platforms that I would like to become more active on. Ilona posts frequently on multiple platforms, which keeps her followers up to date on her life. Although I am not an influencer, increasing the frequency in which I share content will allow my friends and family to stay up to date on the happenings in my life. Overall, a major takeaway that I got from this activity is that you should fully understand someone’s online presence before assuming their identity. Reviewing Ilona Maher’s profiles greatly expanded my understanding of her as a person and the things that she is passionate about. It is important to see the full picture of someone’s online presence before making a final judgment.
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