In this qualitative research study, I use case studies to analyze the rhetorical understanding students have about online audiences, including how this understanding informs writerly choices, primarily in digital, self-sponsored writing. In this study I found that, while anxieties about online writing do exist, there are also many benefits for online writers that cause these anxieties to lessen. In addition, findings indicated that participants didn't always know how to correctly interpret and capitalize on audience feedback, which causes challenges, but these participants also claimed rhetorical power once they entered community spaces they cared about and better understood their purpose and roles as writers in those spaces. These findings contribute to composition pedagogy because they suggest areas for growth in the high school classroom, such as learning how to manage multiple audiences, how to best interpret feedback, and how to claim authority as young writers in unfamiliar rhetorical situations.