How do you handle friendships with influencers? And is this situation with my influencer friend weird or am I just not keeping up with the times?

I have a few friends who are low-key influencers/content creators (like 50-300k followers) in our shared hobby. I don’t begrudge them what they’re doing at all, it’s a legit side hustle. But I have found those friendships a bit odd - like they are totally different people online than in person, and it feels… odd. Does anyone else have friends in this space, and if so how do you handle the disconnect between the online and ‘real life’ persona?

Also, there’s a specific recent situation with one of these friends that I’d like some perspective on. I have known her for years, since well before she had any real online presence. We’re not particularly close, but since we have a shared hobby we meet up once or twice a month for that and often grab dinner/coffee after.

She recently had a major medical procedure, and has been posting about it online (she sort of has a ‘personal brand’ so posts life updates a fair bit). She posted a wish list of things - some recovery-related, most not - and has been getting tons of gifts from online and IRL friends. I find this weird and a bit off putting. Had I known she was getting this done (I’m not constantly on insta, so I often miss people’s stories, and I get that sometimes it’s exhausting to text all your friends life updates), I would have offered to come over with some meals, run errands, etc… but asking for gifts online just feels a bit… odd to me? There’s also been a couple situations where I helped her out and kinda felt like I was a prop in her content creation, lol.

Anyway, I’m totally OK with just putting some distance between us if we’re not aligned, but I’m also wondering if maybe this is just normal in this new online world and I’m an old crone who doesn’t get it 😂 would love to hear your perspectives.