- Daily Mail picked up her post – sparking nasty comments
- Rosie Routledge made ‘innocent’ video about moving from Dubai to Douglas, where she is setting-up a new business
- But negative criticism shocked the content creator
- ‘Influencer’ label fuelled row in which she was wrongly painted as ‘anti-Isle of Man’ by readers who misunderstood her message.
- However, she insists she didn’t say anything negative about her new home – which she loves
- Now wants to support local businesses
A 27-year-old content creator who has recently moved from Dubai to the Isle of Man says she was hit by a wave of negativity after a TikTok video about relocating was picked up by national and local media.
Rosie Routledge describes making a straightforward post about her move and being surprised by the reaction that followed.
‘I didn’t say anything negative,’ she told Expose News, in an exclusive video interview. ‘So it was quite shocking that there was so many people saying nasty things.’
Rosie revealed four reasons why she was relocating to the island from the Emirates, including wanting to be nearer her family and a desire not to become over-reliant on the convenient lifestyle in the futuristic city.
But Rosie links the intensity of the response to the ‘influencer’ label, and readers not appreciating the context of her message in which she innocuously said she was looking forward to the ‘changing of the seasons’ which she had missed in the dessert.
She says she never set out to brand herself that way, describing herself instead as ‘more content creator’ who posts ‘a little bit of content here and there’ on TikTok and Instagram.
But after the coverage, she says the comments were quick to turn personal.
One message, she recalls, was: ‘There’s a boat in the morning, we don’t need influences here.’
Rosie argues the term influencer has picked up a stigma, particularly among people who do not recognise what the work involves.
One commenter on the Mail Online website – which has a reputation for publishing for sniping and highly critical messages from readers – said: ‘The only thing that sent her into a state of depression is being an influencer and being too lazy to get of her a@#e and get a proper job.’
In her view, the label is often applied without thinking through what it means in practice.
Her content, she says, centres on sharing ‘nice restaurants’ and ‘fun activities to do’ and she believes that can benefit local venues and shops by driving footfall.
She suggests attitudes may shift as more people use TikTok to find places to eat, drink and visit.
Rosie says she has noticed more Isle of Man content popping up since arriving, although she adds that she has not seen many restaurant reviews yet and wants to do more of that kind of content herself.
For Rosie, the bigger point is that online attention can be converted into local trade.
She says ‘advertising on places like TikTok is a huge thing’, and she wants to use her platform to highlight businesses people don’t even know about.
She also says she has heard warnings from within the sector itself, recalling a venue owner telling her that ‘the owner had said the hospitality is dying.’
Rosie says she has settled in well so far and remains focused on building a life on the island, including plans to open a beauty salon offering treatments such as eyebrows and nails and, she hopes, laser hair removal.
She says she is not trying to ‘change the whole island’, but hopes her experience of different places can feed into events and content that support venues and connect people.
