How False Performance of Identity on Instagram Influence Social Comparisons

Abstract

Social networking platforms allow users the ability to control how their identity is presented to others. In the case of Instagram, users can edit and add filters to photos of their choice to be seen by public or private audience. While these features can be used as a form of self-expression, there are often other motivations for performing identity through Instagram. This paper identifies these motivations and outlines the affect that false representations of reality can have on audiences. The paper will examine the work of various researchers on performing identity offline, online identity, social networking use, and Instagram use. The research discussed in this paper suggests that people modify their identity online to conceal negative aspects of themselves in order to achieve a desired impression on their audience, which often includes impressing their social groups and communities. This paper also identifies that distorted representations of identity can cause negative self-evaluation in audiences, who engage in social comparisons online.

Keywords: Identity, Instagram, Social Networks

 

Introduction

This paper will discuss the motivations for self-presentation of identity and how false performances of identity can impact others, with specific reference to Instagram. The paper will draw information from many researchers in the communications field to present the argument that since Instagram allows users to choose how to portray themselves, they can create false perceptions of their identity to others, which in turn, can have a negative impact on the self-evaluation of their audiences. These audiences consist of the user’s offline communities, including friends, family and acquaintances, as well as their online social networks.

According to Pearson (2009), people online can “deliberately choose to put forth identity cues or claims of self that can closely resemble or widely differ from reality”. Due to the nature of online profiles, users do not accurately depict themselves but rather articulate chosen performances (boyd & Heer, 2006). The “performer” manages disclosure on social networking sites, choosing whether to share more private aspects of their constructed identity (Pearson, 2009). Furthermore, social networking platforms with fluidity allow for users to “play with aspects of their presentation of self” while communicating with others (Pearson, 2009). Through the social networking site Instagram, users often present their identity to make themselves appear more favourable, which can induce negative comparisons from their audience who may feel jealous or view their own life in a less positive light.

 

Presentation of Identity Online

Since the way people present themselves online can be significantly different from how they present themselves offline, it is believed that communicating with others in various contexts involves showing different aspects of one’s identity according to the situation (Goffman, 1959; Lazebna, 2015). According to Rettberg (2014, p. 51), when posting a photo to Instagram, people intentionally choose what they “want to remember and share” and what they “want to leave out”. Individuals will conceal aspects that could be perceived negatively and only share positive situations (Seehafer, 2017). Rosenberg and Egbert (2011, p. 4) define the process in which individuals regulate their own behaviour to expose desirable traits as “self-monitoring”. This involves creating strategic profiles and engaging in self-presentation tactics to expose their identity in a favourable light and have a desired impression on an audience (Rosenberg & Egbert, 2011; Seehafer, 2017).

Performances of identity in social networks start within the imagination of users and then are brought to existence with the aid of the tools and technologies of the platform, allowing users to “project, renegotiate, and continuously revise their consensual social hallucination” (Pearson, 2009). It is expected for audiences to believe the online content of others to depict accurate representations of identity that mirror reality, when instead these performances may not be genuine (Goffman, 1959; Seehafer, 2017). In contrast, Lee (2006) argues that self-presentation online is dependent on context, and therefore, interaction is not necessarily dishonest and deceptive. This argument supports Hardey’s (2002, p. 570) belief that rather than constructing “fantasy selves”, anonymous online interactions act as a foundation for building trust and establishing relationships.

Presentation of self on Instagram is mainly made up of an individual’s username, pictures and descriptions, profile photo, and bio, all of which take a part in constructing a user’s online identity. Users often upload photos of themselves with friends, at events, and “selfies” to make their life appear a certain way. A study by Adler (2017), found that the primary motivation for posting selfies was for ego-reinforcement, as these individuals feel better about themselves when receiving likes from others. In contrast to the arguments made in this paper, Adler’s (2017) study also found that participants posted selfies due to high levels of self-esteem and confidence, with one participant stating that posting selfies acted as a way for her to build her self-confidence and show love and appreciation for herself. While some Instagram users may present their identity candidly and confidently, many others use online identity as an opportunity to shape themselves as more favourable to others.

 

Using Online Identity to Belong

Much of the research into the way in which people present themselves to others is based on Goffman’s (1959) belief that individuals modify their identity to adhere to societal understandings and expectations. Goffman (1959) believes that people become characters that play out a performance when interacting with others to achieve a desired impression. Goffman’s beliefs can be applied to the modern Web 2.0 context whereby online users maintain their character and express performances through their social networking platforms, which have grown to become a fundamental factor in the management of identity and social relations (Mascheroni, Vincent, & Jimenez, 2015; Seehafer, 2017). According to Rosenberg and Egbert (2011, p. 5), individuals use self-presentation tactics in order to “make a desired impression on a particular audience”. The motivation for this is derived from individuals’ intrinsic need for acceptance and inclusion (Rosenberg & Egbert, 2011).

According to Pearson (2009), people construct their identities in relation to their networks and communities. People can often feel pressured to fit in with a certain group identity through the construction of their online identity, which can affect one’s reputation within a community (Kollock & Smith, 1999; Rettberg, 2014). Furthermore, Kollock and Smith (1999) argue that upholding and developing one’s identity or reputation is actually essential to the formation of communities. In modern society, people create and update online profiles that conform to society’s standards of self-presentation and social expectations (Mascheroni, Vincent, & Jiminez, 2015). The motivation for individuals to carefully manage and monitor the impressions made by their online identity is enhanced by the public nature of social network profiles (Rosenberg & Egbert, 2011).

One way that individuals try to impress their social groups on their social networks, mainly through Facebook and Instagram, is through uploading photos from particular events. According to boyd and Heer (2006), uploading event photos indicates “friendship structure to outsiders and an expression of appreciation to friends”, which displays participation and inclusion. Instagram has a feature that enables users to tag other people depicted in pictures and add the location that the photo was taken (Ridgway & Clayton, 2016). Additionally, each user’s profile has a “Tagged In” section that shows viewers all the photos that user has been tagged in. Tagging friends in photos can enhance the feeling of community online between friends. It can also help to achieve a desired impression on audiences, possibly that the individual is popular if they upload photos with many people.

 

Using Filters to Alter Reality

Rettberg (2014) argues that people upload photos to Instagram to heighten their own daily experiences and make themselves feel special. Instagram allows users to edit their photos and apply various filters that may conceal aspects of their performance (Seehafer, 2017). Filters are manipulation tools that can be used as a form of self-expression, involving the ability to adjust brightness, colour, saturation, and various other qualities (Hochman & Manovich, 2013; Seehafer, 2017). Instagram filters can create a different “feel” by altering the message communicated by the image (Hochman & Manovich, 2013). Using filters on photos allows for individuals to see themselves from a distance that “makes them new” (Rettberg, 2014, p. 27). By editing and using filters on photos, people are able to display an idealised image of “a socially-accepted and desirable persona” (Lazebna, 2015, p. 2). This idea is supported by Seehafer (2017), who argues that performances of identity online are expected to meet ideal standards and disguise everything that does not fit into these standards.

A study by Reece and Danforth (2017) found that depressed individuals were less likely to apply filters to their photos than healthy individuals. Additionally, the depressed participants preferred a black and white filter as opposed to the healthy participants that favoured the Valencia filter, which lightens the tint of the photo (Reece & Danforth, 2017). This suggests that people who are not depressed are the ones that are more likely to use filters on their photos, and hence, take notice of their impression management.

 

The Effect of Online Performances of Identity on Others

Since social media platforms allow for users to control how they present themselves to others, they contain idealised versions of identity (Hendrickse, 2016). According to Appel, Gerlach and Crusius (2016, p. 44), information presented online is positively skewed, increasing the “probability of unflattering social comparisons”. According to Wood (1996), social comparison refers to comparing oneself to others in terms of self-evaluation, self-improvement and/or self-enhancement. Social comparisons can result in envy, which is heightened when one compares themselves to their friends and peers due to its high personal relevance (Appel, Gerlach & Crusius, 2016). Vogel, Rose, Okdie, Eckles and Franz (2015) support this idea by arguing that social comparisons on social media construct negative effects on well-being and self-evaluation. Goffman (1959) suggests that social distance assists in generating admiration within an audience. This distance is enhanced in an online environment, especially between individuals that have not met offline as a comparison does not require direct contact (Wood, 1996). As many individuals use social networking sites to learn about others without engaging in any social interaction, the likelihood for social comparisons to occur is very high (Vogel et al, 2015; Wood, 1996). This not only involves looking at the profiles of family, friends and acquaintances but also those of strangers, whether famous, a friend of a friend or someone with no social connection whatsoever.

Many celebrities and models have an active presence on Instagram, with millions of followers that see every image they post. One of the most followed people on Instagram is Selena Gomez, who often shares photos containing her “thin-ideal body” (Hendrickse, 2016, p. 2). Gomez and other prominent Instagram influencers all have the ability to apply filters to their images, controlling the way others see them (Hendricks, 2016). While these body and beauty standards are conveyed through various social influences, the most prominent force is mass media, and therefore, social networking sites (Groesz, Levine & Murnen, 2002).  A study by Shelly, Ward, Hyde and Shibley (2008) discovered that exposure to thin body images in the media positively relates to body image insecurities. This evidence is supported by Hendrickse’s (2016) study that found a strong relationship between body image concerns regarding thinness and appearance-related comparisons made on Instagram. Repeated exposure to such images in the media lead audiences to accept such portrayals as representations of reality, causing the thin ideal body to be seen as normal, and even expected (Shelly et al, 2008). Evidently, this affects many women’s satisfaction with their own body, and in turn, decreasing their self-esteem (Shelly et al, 2008).

 

Conclusion

Social networking sites provide a platform for people to represent their identity online through alternate performances (Pearson, 2009). On Instagram, users upload selfies as a way to perform their visual identity. Through performance, individuals engage in impression management in order to make a desired impression on an audience (Rosenberg & Egbert, 2011). Desired impressions are often based around fitting in with social groups, which can help users feel as if they belong within an online community. Rettberg (2014) argues that performance of visual identity online is coercive, and users feel pressured to display a group identity. Instagram allows users to tag others in photos, demonstrating inclusion and popularity while also enhancing the sense of community. Another feature that is widely used on Instagram is the ability to apply filters to photos. While filters may be used as artful expression, they are also a manipulation tool that can distort reality (Hochman & Manovich). Since users can control their performances online, identities often represent an idealised version of reality (Hendrickse, 2016). When viewing the profiles of others online, people use social comparisons by assessing their own life in contrast to the person online. Misrepresenting true identity online can cause audiences to experience negative self-evaluation, and even envy (Appel, Gerlach & Crusius, 2016; Vogel et al, 2015). Such social comparisons are present in examples of thin body performances throughout social media and Instagram. Overall, the affordances of social networking sites like Instagram allow users to perform their identity however they please, and false performances of identity can cause negative social comparisons from audiences.

 

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Conflict, Authenticity and Deception: The Impact of Trolls on Communities and Networks

Abstract

This paper will discuss how identities within technologically mediated communication channels have drastically impacted communication between online community members. This communication failure has resulted in conflicts within online communication sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. This paper discusses the lack in social capital which will eventuate in conflict and friction within an online community. The focus on identities highlight the differences that are perceived by other community members including trolls by utilising examples such as the Madeline McCann case and the Australian Republic Movement. These differences are based on interpersonal comparisons reflecting past experiences in dealing with all aspects of authenticity and deception.

 

Keywords: Conflict, social network, identity, community, authenticity, deception, social capital.

 

Introduction

Conflict is applicable in all forms of communication, both online and offline, which often stem from within a form of a community. Typically, this conflict is due to a clash of identities with individuals or group of identities in specific community, were levels of support differs from community members. Communities are defined as a group of people that depend on social involvement and communication. (Katz et al., 2004, p. 217) This is evident through the traditional face-to-face discussions most commonly used today or alternatively through an internet-mediated communication channel, such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram or YouTube. But either way, conflict is inevitable within communities where identities express member opinions over a thread of time or a subject matter. This paper will argue that the lack of social capital will create conflict (friction) in an online community from identities that are empowered by community member differences through online communities. These differences are based on interpersonal comparisons reflecting past experiences within the aspects of authenticity and deception with a focus on trolls within social media.

 

Expression of Identity on Social Media

Before we dive deeper into how conflict manifests through social media and trolling. Jensen based his media definition as the “socially formed resources that enable human beings to articulate an understanding of reality, and to engage in communications about it with others” (2008, p.45). This definition best describes the differences in traditional communications whereas digital interactions utilises modern technology mediated devices enabling online communications. With this understanding, it is essential to note that the main difference between offline and online communities is that online communities are not bound by geographical locations and are asynchronous. Some communities are started offline with face-to-face contact and then precede to move online, a common example would be a group chat through Facebook messenger. This community is formed offline in a social physical space, which then moved online for convenience and accessibility before meeting offline again. Sole online communities, in comparison are formed without any face-to-face contact and communication is sent to multiple members, often being instantaneous, resulting in zero-time delay between messages. These online communities have no intention of progressing offline to remain anonymous and create their own performed identity.

A large majority of these online communities are commonly held on Web 2.0 platforms. Boyd and Elision define social networking sites as “web-based services that allow individuals to; construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system; articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection; and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (2007, p.4). Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, allows ‘friends’ that embodies a weaker bond in a relationship between members. Hence the membership process of a social networking site, members have an opportunity to protect their personal interest by not disclosing informative data on their profile. These social networking sites in the main do not verify any information, reinforcing the view that a members ‘online self’ may be different to their ‘actual self’. This process provides choices for members to participate within an online community, creating an opportunity for friction or conflict to arise.

Online community membership grants you several choices in order to express a non-verbal expression; whether the message remains authentic or deceptive about your identity online. Within these communities, members can remain individualistic within a group or provide support to other group members which requires time or expertise in the online community. Jensen (2011) defines this choice of social interactions as relations of availability, accessibility and performativity. That is “What is known……? Who knows what……? and Who says and does what – in relation to whom?” (Jensen, 2011, p.50). As an example, conflict may can stem from the use of Facebook to market an event, where the invitee loses control with unexpected attendees via mass communication to unintended participants. This concept underpins the notion that our online identity comes with a choice.

Further Pearson states that “Online, users can claim to be whoever they wish. Like actors playing a role, they can deliberately choose to put forth identity cues or claims of self that can closely resemble or wildly differ from reality” (2009, p. 1). Pearson then goes one to argue that our identity is like a performance, everchanging to suit the situation, meaning that our identity is not fixed at any point in time, but is instead a fluid construct that is evolving into what we deem appropriate. A key concept to this argument is that members of an online community may hide their true identity in full or part, where misaligned intentions can create conflict within an online community. This concept may lead to conflicts within social networks as it opens the door to deceptive conduct within the community, disturbing the flow of interaction (Coles & West, 2016).

 

Identity and the Community

A key feature of a community is that it must itself have a sense of identity, which are known to the members within the community (Kendall, 2011). Furthermore a community itself “confers identity and participant identities also play an important part in the formation and continuation of communities” (Kendall, 2011, p.318). From the above quotes, it can be applied that members may not contain similar knowledge and attitudinal elements of a ‘real community’ but in fact be dissimilar. This contradiction as described by Kendall (2011), directly relates to online communities – where conflict and/or friction between members may arise. Further, members are concerned about the ability of a community to mask their identity, which can relate to whether a participant is authentic or deceptive while engaging online. This was evident in the case of Madeline McCann where communities clashed over the parent’s involvement her disappearance. These communities were recognised as either Anti-McCann’s or Pro-McCann’s. These groups clashed over twitter, creating friction and conflict between the participants, that lead to different group identities within the one community. Both identities used emotive language to enhance their identities while at the same time strengthening the divide between the two groups (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017).

Emotional baggage held by group members can also lead to different identities that share common threads in the most part but be polar opposite on other views. This is particularly most noticeable with identifiers such as a person race and gender (Kendall, 2011). Donath raises the point that “knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction” (1999, p.1) particularly where the evaluation outcome is subjective. This was demonstrated with the differing opinions on how the Republic Movement in Australia provided alternative methods to select their head of state, appointment versus election (Charnock, 2001). Kendall (2011, p.318) further stated that group members can “mask their identity, or to present a deliberately deceptive identity”, to notionally benefit their members where they feel best represents themselves, authentic or not. As in the Republic Movement, the perception bias of this selection can create friction and prevent the movement progressing within the political online community.

 

Social Capital

It is important to consider the level of social capital required to create and maintain any social network. Figure 1, as shown in the Appendix represents a framework for the creation and maintenance of online communities is grounded on sociological and information technology concepts (Vivian & Sudweeks, 2003). The framework demonstrates the connection between social spaces, social capital and identity for members in the social formation of relationships. Overall social capital can be beneficial to online communities as it creates trust and honesty between members, which is vital for the survival of the online community. Eklinder-Frick, Eriksson & Hallén (2015, p.2) defines social capital as a “resource in society, where it is associated with trust and social cohesion”. Even with idiosyncratic opinions – online communities can thrive as long as trust and honesty prevails in the community. However as stated by Annen (2003, p.451) social capital is described “as a player’s reputation for being cooperative within a social network”, where any conflict within this framework can only assume the greater good will be accepted from members in determining the final outcome. But unfortunately, this is not likely to occur where cooperation is required and not forthcoming in communities where controlling behaviours from individuals does not conform to typical norms. A lack of cooperation will further discourage trust and create conflict / friction with differing knowledge and attitudinal elements over time. This is reinforced by Annen (2003) where control over a community is only developed over time and through regular communications. A lack of participation by members due to conflict will lead to poor online community performance.

 

Authenticity

When members participate in online communities, a conflict or friction situation is bound to occur given the membership process for social networking sites, even if the members are being authentic to themselves. This is due to the fact that every member’s idiosyncratic opinion originates from distinct cultural backgrounds and past experiences. According to Buendgens-Kosten, authenticity in its broadest sense is “related to the notions of realness or trueness to origin” (2014, p.1) and is referenced to the characterisation of language to the quality of text (spoken or written). So, while it is important to remain authentic to one’s self while participating in online communication sites, it is critical to remain cautious to the dangers of the internet as it is related to members cultural backgrounds and limiting the amount of identity performance taken place. This is done in a hope to avoid being characterised as a troll, who are aggressive, disruptive and deceitful (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017).

 

Deception

Social networking sites also allows for fake accounts to be created, where impersonation between members can occur with no mechanism to actualise the authentic identity. Regrettably, indirect trust is assumed for social networking sites without any verification. This deceitful tactic is most commonly known as catfishing, where one individual lures someone into a relationship through a false or factious persona. This is a downfall of online communities with no way to authenticate your identity within these communities. This idea of social caption and trust are closely linked as deceitful communication tactics represents a lack of social capital, allowing the likes of trolls and catfishes to “create conflict for amusements sake” (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017, p.76) which further reinforces the need for members to protect their identity online. As an example, Stone (1992), shows a woman who was supposedly talking to a ‘fully disabled old lady’ named ‘Julie’, who in actual fact turned out to be a “middle aged male psychiatrist” who simply wanted to talk to other women as a woman (Stone, 1992, p.2). In this case while the intent was not malicious the tactic demonstrate deception, mis-trust and potential conflict.

Deception can also be found in social networks through the concept of trolling. This is where someone pretends to be a genuine member of a community, by sharing the passion and identity of a group, but then deliberately attempts to “disrupt the community by baiting participants” (Kendall, 2011, 319). Baiting is the process in which a member of the online community deliberately posts to anger or disrespect other members of the community. The consequences of such trolling, as stated by Donath (1999, p.71) is that; “Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community.” Furthermore, in an online community that has become sensitised to trolling “the rate of deception is high – many honestly naive questions may be quickly rejected as trollings” (Donath, 1999, p.71). This extract reinforces the damage that trolls can have on a online community, but also the level of conflict or friction that can arise between the troll and the impacted existing members.

Trolling is a common problem today with some serious cases punished by criminal conviction, however these consequences are the exception rather than the rule (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017). This has resulted in the spreadability of trolling, which has in the majority been unpoliced. The increase in trolling has followed the rise in social media networks, with the number of social network users purported to be 2.46 billion as of 2017 (Statista, 2018). With this significant statistic, it’s only a matter of time before conflict rises between users, with social capital and trust being eroded from online communities. An example of trolling was evident in the aftermath of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007. This case saw a group of trolls on twitter, under pseudonyms, posting about how the parents were responsible for the abduction of their daughter (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017). These tweets were often “abusive and antagonistic and are also known to engage in verbal attacks against anyone who takes to Twitter to support the McCanns” (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017, p.71). The consequences of trolling through online communities, can often lead to the polarisation of beliefs, attitudes and values amongst the community, making trolling not only unpleasant but also very unethical where it has the ability to cause great harm (Coles & West, 2016). The actions of trolling has the potential to generate vast amounts of conflict and friction with communities, which can span years. This is evident in the McCann case with the hashtag on twitter receiving 100 tweets every hour (Synnott, Coulias & Ioannou, 2017). Deception and indirect trust are key concerns for members within online communities today, without a foundation of authenticity.

 

Conclusion

This paper discussed the key elements that formed the creation and maintenance of online communities which highlighted the importance of identities, social capital and the relationships built in the social formation of an online community. With these concepts, frameworks and constructs, I have argued that conflict and or friction can apply in all forms of online communities where authenticity is non-existent. This conflict is substantially due to the expression of idiosyncratic opinions within communities that impact community identities over a thread of time and subject. This paper argues that the lack in social capital will create conflict and friction where differences exist in attitudes between members on the basis of past experiences in dealing with the all aspects of authenticity and deception.

 

 

Appendix

Figure 1: A conceptual framework for the creation and maintenance of social networks (Vivian & Sudweeks, 2003).

 

 

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Identity as a performance: How identities are formed within the fashion community on Instagram

Abstract

This paper will argue how identities online can be shaped by their chosen communities, focussing on the fashion community on Instagram. However, these identities can sometimes be false and deceptive, which can be due to the demands and expectations within the community. Instagram has been influential within the fashion community as it is photo based, easily allows users to stay connected and create new connections. It allows users to develop a fan base and influence which can lead to being discovered and endorsed by fashion brands. Using definitions and ideas, this paper will examine the relationship between the two concepts focussing on how identity can sometimes be deceptive and the motivation behind this within the fashion community on Instagram.

Keywords: virtual community, community, identity, online identity, social media, Instagram, performance, deception, fashion, hashtags.

Introduction

The concept of what makes a community has been challenged since the development of new communities mediated through electronic communication technologies along with the way users can portray an identity. Traditionally the idea of community is considered to consist of four concepts; a place to live, a spatial unit, a way of life and social system (Katz, Rice, Acord, Dasgupta & David, 2004, p. 317). There has been an emphasis on a physical basis for a community to function throughout the years along with the inherent unity to the self, the norm of one body, one identity (Donath, 1999). However, the emergence of new virtual communities has caused the concept of communities to be challenged and redefined. Communities on Instagram can stay connected through the use of hashtags. The virtual community has allowed users form new identities different to their physical ones. However, social media communities can allow users to portray a chosen identity online which can sometimes be false and deceptive for their own benefit.

Virtual Communities & Hashtags

Katz et al. (2004) suggests that the majority of community constructs rely on social interaction and in essence, a community is a social system. This allows the concept of community to go beyond the physical definition, where a community exists only by having a geographic location (Katz et al., 2004). The physical community occupies its own physical setting and many consider the physicality of community formation important for the sense of belonging. Members within physical community’s form groups with people who exercise local autonomy in meeting their needs in a specific locality (Katz et al., 2004). The virtual community refers to communities mediated through electronic communication technologies such as social media, multiuser domains (MUDs) and internet relay chat, and also sustained through personal communication technologies such as messaging, mobile phones and email (Katz et al., 2004). The “virtual” part of a virtual community suggests a place without a geographic location which is what a traditional community is based around, and it means the primary form of communication is electronic or enabled by technology (Ridings & Gefen, 2004). Virtual communities continue to provide a social system and social interaction.

Dennis, Pootheri & Natarajan (1998) characterise virtual communities as groups of people with shared interests or goals where electronic communication is a primary form of interaction. Groups might meet regularly online to discuss a subject of interest to all members. It is argued that virtual communities are worthy of being considered a community despite not having a geospatial location like a traditional physical community. This is because of the nature of virtual communities linking large groups of people to share, ideas, feelings and desires (Katz et al., 2004). The virtual community provides ties and homogeneity by interest rather than physical location and locally isolated. Ridings & Gefen (2004) describe virtual communities as “groups of people with common interests and practices that communicate regularly…in an organized way over the internet through a common location or mechanism”.

A community is described to become “a metaphor for the primary ties outside of the households that provide us with larger social systems”. Virtual communities allow users to create and preserve ties among people who are physically separate (Katz et al., 2004). The removed physical aspect of a community also removes the traditional belief that there is an inherent unity to the self, there is one body, one identity (Donath, 1999).

Instagram is a social media platform which allows users to find and create social ties by the use of hashtags. The use of hashtags allows users to expose their brand or persona to large targeted audiences. Hashtags can be chosen to relate to a certain topic or interest, so users who relate can easily find the content and increase engagement. Hashtags help organise and categorise photo and video content which assists the process of discovery and community engagement (Loren, 2017).  Hashtags are not limited to a geographic location, which easily allows communities to form and create new connections around the world. The fashion community, like many others, is based on shared social practices and interests, unlike physical communities which are based on shared social and physical boundaries.

There are different types of hashtags including branded hashtags and community hashtags (Loren, 2017).  The use of community hashtags helps connect like-minded user around a specific subject, such as #evachenpose or #ootd. These types of hashtags can improve the searchability of a user’s posts, gain followers and grow the user’s own personal community (Loren, 2017). For example, the #evachenpose hashtag was created by Eva Chen, a fashion based instagramer and director of fashion partnerships at Instagram with 882k followers, which includes a photo of the user’s shoes, handbag and piece of fruit in the backseat of a car, which can be used sometimes as an alternative to the traditional #ootd (outfit of the day) post. This hashtag has accumulated 29.1k posts over a number of years. The #evachenpose appeals to users in the fashion community, people who like handbags and shoes and people who follow the Eva Chen Instagram (@evachen212). Chen has developed her own Instagram community and following which can be maintained and developed through the hashtag.

Instagram also allows users to ‘follow’ hashtags allowing them to stay up to date with other users in the community. Users can interact with each other by messaging each other, commenting on each other’s posts and ‘liking’ pictures and videos people post. A community is achieved through the member-generated content and the self-sustaining process it creates: “as more members generate more content, the increased content draws more members” (Ridings & Gefen, 2004). Hashtags can be utilised by the user to describe and portray their chose identities and connect to different communities.

Identity as a performance

Virtual communities allow users to put forth identity claims of the self which can be accurate or false to reality. Social media networks act as a stage in which the user can ‘perform’ and identity. Pearson (2009) puts forward that “identity-as-a-performance is seen as part of the flow of social interaction as individuals construct identity performances fitting their social environment”. Social networking platforms offer spaces which are disembodied, mediated and controllable, and also allow alternate performances for other members of the community (Pearson, 2009).

These performances by users online exist within their imagination who then use tools and technologies online to project and renegotiate their chosen identity (Pearson, 2009). Users create not only their online selves but also their staging and setting in which these selves occur by manipulating online communicative codes. However, these stages maybe social media networks which the user has chosen to be a part of. According to Schwartz & Halegoua (2015) through selected “images, videos, status updates, profiles, friend lists, visible conversations, tastes and interests, and comments that appear on their profile, social media participants present a highly curated version of themselves”. The ability to select what other people see can allow a user to put forward different identities and personas depending on the community they want to be part of and different to who they are offline. For example, if the user chooses to be a part of the fashion community on Instagram, they will then perform an identity suited for that community and follow those social cues and renegotiate their chosen identity.

 

Deceptive identities online

The online virtual community and the user as the performer, are disembodied and electronically re-embodied through the cues and signs they choose to represent their identity (Pearson, 2009). These cues and signs online can be dependent on the virtual community the user is part of. However due the fluidity the user has over the self online, the identity they perform can be inaccurate or misleading to their audience. A user can put forward as many personas online as they have time and energy to create them (Donath, 1999).

Some Instagram accounts can be fake using stock images or images of someone else without their permission. These accounts can also pay for fake followers and engagement. Purtill (2017) reported the company Mediakix created two fake Instagram accounts, @wanderingggirl and @calibeachgirl310, from scratch using stock images and secured four paid brand endorsement deals between them worth US$500 in total. This was a stunt to prove how easy it was to become an Instagram influencer. According to Purtill a user can become a fake influencer by;

  1. Finding photos: Stock images can be used or photos can be taken by the user.
  2. Purchase fake followers: It can cost around US$3-8 per 1000 followers through easy-to-find websites.
  3. Purchase engagement: It can cost 12 cents per comment and between US$4-9 per 1000 likes.
  4. Make money: get into contact with brands for endorsements.

This shows how easily users can grow and develop their Instagram accounts or several, depending on how many identities they wish to have or communities they are part of. Aspiring fashion influencers seek to accumulate a fan base which will enable fashion brands to find models and influencers to represent them. Celebrities and models are often chosen by fashion brands based on how relevant they are on social media which provides a better and more engaging story for the public (Payne 2016). This is a motivation for users to put forward deceptive identities so they can get more endorsements and influence. They can put forward as many as they desire and have the energy for. However, it can be difficult for other users to see what is ‘false’ and what is ‘true’ on Instagram.

A user can be deceptive by using items and content which do not belong to them and create a false identity. For example, users can hire clothing or bags for content to appeal to a community and its members. Instagram provides a platform for individuals in which normal societal cues are not available which allows deception to be easier. Assessment signals that help users determine deception are unavailable online (such as government issued identification) or it is not required to verify the identification of online identity (Tsikerdekis & Zeadally, 2014). According to Tsikerdekis & Zeadally (2014), conventional signals are used which are not verified and can represent deceptive information. Ways in which a user is deceptive includes information about the user’s identity, content of their posts or profile page and the channel in which communication takes place (e.g. messaging, video chat). The manipulation of any of these three categories reflects deception. Instagram allows profile management, the absence of identity verification and focuses on content which creates an environment which can be subject to deception within the three categories put forward by Tsikerdekis & Zeadally (2014). Users develop identity goals, which are used to avoid shame and embarrassment, project a more favourable image and increase social desirability (Grossman, 2017).  On Instagram, this might include creating a fake profile with false information to increase self-worth and appeal to users within a community, such as using an alternative profile picture or content. They construct their identity based on their social setting and follow communicative codes within that setting.

Conclusion

Instagram allows for identity to be a performance which can differ in communities. Identity on Instagram can also be false and deceptive depending on the user’s desires. The virtual fashion community on Instagram is maintained through electronic communication tools, such as messaging, commenting and ‘liking’ content. Instagram allows the formation of virtual communities through communicative tools and hashtags. False information can easily be concealed through strategic editing and omission of information. These tools can also shape the user’s identity performance online within their chosen communities. The traditional idea of having one body and one identity has changed with the emergence of social media, such as Instagram. Users now have the ability to create and maintain as many identities as the have the time and energy for.

References

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Beauty Influencers and Their Changing Identities

Abstract

This paper explores how within the beauty community, specifically looking at the YouTube and Instagram community of influencers that have amassed millions of followers, beauty influencers are shaped by the community as they make changes to their identities based on the platforms they are on. The platforms explored are Instagram and Twitter, discussing the infrastructure and community each platform has and the power they have. Examples of beauty influencers and their scandals are used to illustrate this point. The community and individuals who participate in the community are discussed briefly, in terms of what role they play and what power they have individually and collectively. Overall, Instagram is found to lean towards community and Twitter towards infrastructure to influence change within identity in beauty influencers.

Keywords: identity, Twitter, Instagram, social media, beauty influencers, power, beauty blogging

Introduction

The beauty industry has benefited from the fast paced and ever growing community it has attracted online. The dynamics the community present many questions as to how they continue to work and grow. In this paper, I aim to look at identity in communities and networks and will focus on the online beauty community, specifically looking at the YouTube and Instagram community of influencers that have amassed millions of followers, and I argue that beauty influencers are shaped by the community as they make changes to their identities based on the platforms they are on. The theme of power will be explored as it is a concept that ties into all aspects of this paper. First, I will compare both platforms of Instagram and Twitter, discussing their differences and similarities. Next I will examine each platform individually starting with Instagram and the relationships between individuals and influencers and how this relation shapes an influencer’s identity. Finally, I will explore Twitter and its infrastructure and, community and how it can impact how an influencer creates their identity. For the purposes of this paper, I will only discuss influencers who have a relatively large following, English and Western sector of the beauty community. This will help narrow the paper and explore influencers who do alter their identity at a larger scale.

Definitions

Key concepts such as community and identity must be defined to create a framework for this essay. According to Sanders (as cited in E Rice et al., 2004, p. 4), community is made up of four elements, which include “a place to live, a spatial unit, a way of life, and social system”. E Rice et al. (2004) further states that virtual communities though may not fit into past definitions of communities which were made more for physical communities, still are communities as they are based on different ideas compared to physical communities. They are more focused on the individual conveying their identity as true as possible without general regard to social rules in physical communities. Virtual communities are based on “shared social practices and interests”, and physical based on “shared social and physical boundaries” (E Rice et al., 2004). A more recent definition by Preece (as cited in Cavanagh, 2009, p. 2) states a community’s characteristics include “shared goals, common interests, shared activities and governance, mutual satisfaction of needs, co-operation, enjoyment, pleasure and location as common understandings of community”. This definition of community can be used to define and lay out characteristics of the beauty community. The beauty community of influencers all have a shared interest in beauty, with a focus on cosmetics and they all have a mutual understanding and passion for it. They share social boundaries in the form of grouping together influencers who have the same style of makeup or content and the social practices are very similar across influencers, sharing their makeup or lifestyle surrounding the topic of beauty. Instagram’s algorithm pushes this further by recommending similar beauty accounts to a user based on who they follow, as they post similar content. This showcases that the beauty community has characteristics of a typical community and it is not a new concept of a community. Twitter showcases this as well by the hashtags displaying several users posting makeup looks or tweets relating to beauty, showing their participation and shared interests. Dyrberg (1997) defines identity as the final product of identification, one that happens due to the existence of complex power relations. Such a definition is relevant to beauty influencers that make a brand out of their name, their identity is formed through power relations and what they do.

Instagram and Twitter

Both Twitter and Instagram have its differences and similarities in the way the community and platform encourage for aspects of identities. Both Instagram and Twitter have a like function which usually means that the viewer is showing their approval of the post (Anagnostopoulos, Parganas, Chadwick, & Fenton, 2018). The way one responds to post however, are different, as on Instagram, the comment stays within the post, while on Twitter, a new tweet is made but is attached to the original tweet (Highfield & Leaver, 2014). This difference can cause an influencer to alter their identity differently, as on Instagram, comments may have little effect due to the grouping of all the comments. Whereas on Twitter, each individual reply is a tweet on its own, creating a more sense of self for the individual as beyond their username, their display name and profile photo are shown, which might have a greater effect on how the influencer takes feedback from their posts and decides to alter from it. It might also affect the way a commenter makes their comment and what kind of message they decide to leave. Those on Instagram are only identified by their username in the comments but on Twitter, more of their identity is shown. The way comments are made on both platforms and how they can affect alterations in identity can be seen through the example of Samantha Ravndahl, who posted a photo of her in Japan and including in the description her experience and what lessons she has learnt through the trip (Ravndahl, 2018). Immediately, her post received negative comments, calling her privileged and uncultured. Ravndahl turned the comments off on that post and has never since posted anything on her Instagram of similar content. She also posted the same photo and caption to Twitter and received some negative comments but also received drastically different, positive comments. This shows that bad comments in her Instagram post gave little care in leaving a negative comment, whereas on Twitter, those who left comments realised and understood the content Ravndahl was posting. This example shows the differences between the two platforms and displays the different aspects of them. Conversely, influencer James Charles receives many positive comments on both platforms but projects drastically different identities on both platforms, with Twitter, he creates an identity of being relatable and tweets about everyday things, however with Instagram, he focuses more on makeup, fashion, and lifestyle, thus creating a professional version of himself. Both influencers show even on different platforms, communities can be similar or drastically different and how an influencer may want to alter their identity differently across platforms.

Instagram

The beauty community on Instagram are often mocked by influencers on other platforms, from their wavy brows to breast insert blending sponges, one may look at them and not understand how they work. The community can be broken up into four dominant users; brand accounts, influencer accounts, update accounts and, individual accounts. This paper will focus mainly on influencer and individual accounts, looking at the relationships and community formed around influencer accounts. Individual accounts can be viewed as the everyday participant on an influencer’s Instagram posts. These accounts may view their interactions on posts having little to no impact, however Granovetter (1973) argues that their interactions is tied to bigger aspects of social structure and that they have little to no control of this. Such interactions can also be viewed as weak ties, which are relationships people have that hold lesser value than strong ties which are ties that have a relationship that holds a strong bond. The interactions consist of commenting or liking an account or post and, viewing these posts, and the way they do this affects the community they form by influencing the social cues. This in turn impacts the influencer users who take the feedback they receive from the individual users to alter their posts/account and in turn they tweak their identity to fit the community.

Since Instagram is limited to photos, videos and a text description, this impacts how an influencer can build and present their identity. Highfield and Leaver (2014) point out that compared to other platforms, Instagram encourages “standardised bits of information”, instead of giving an extensive story. This is due to the limitations of the platform, one is only allowed to post media and text is only an option in captions and though one can share text via images, it still is a media format. This is also brought over to Instagram stories where stories are limited by time. This forces influencer to share a snippet of what they want to. Such standardised information is reflective of influencer accounts, with majority of their posts being photos at an event, a restaurant, the beach and, so on. This limit influencers on what and how much they can share about their identity. Thus, each post is important in helping to build and alter their identity, with help from comments and feedbacks from their followers, the individual users. This creates a feedback loop, allowing influencers to create and enhance any aspects of the presented identity that received approval to grow more. Thus, this shows how influencers are influenced by individual accounts and how they are shaped by the community and don’t shape themselves, they might create an identity initially, however are eventually shaped by the community. Such can occur through comments as help represent the community and are part of the influencer’s identity as they take on their suggestions and whenever you visit their page, the comments reflect aspects of the influencer, again showing that individual users shape influencers. This relationship works as individual users get content that they desire and the influencer gets more likes, comments and, views on their posts, thus increasing their influence on people. This reveals that identity of influencers are in the hands of their followers and the community. Due to the strong ties influencers and individual accounts have, in which individual accounts help to provide influencers the power they have, they almost force influencers to change their identity or fear losing their power. This is displayed by beauty influencer James Charles who has had his identity damaged by a racism scandal, which will be discussed later in detail, tries to the best of his ability to prevent another racist scandal to his name appear again in fear of losing his reputation (Charles, 2018). It must also be noted that influencer accounts can become individual accounts on other’s Instagram pages. This allows influencers to experience a similar role to individual accounts, but will never fully experience it as their power and influence will translate in their interactions as their fans will back them up.

Twitter

Twitter in the beauty sphere is perceived to be a smaller platform compared to Instagram, but serves a purpose for some influencers. Like the analysis done on Instagram, I will only look at influencer accounts and individual users. Twitter has a different dynamic compared to Instagram, due to the limitations of the platform, where each tweet is limited to 240 characters. Veletsianos (2012) observes that the social networks within Twitter is a result of user’s connections with one another. Twitter not only separates each tweet from another, making each unique and a post of their own, but also structures each tweet consistently, having aspects such as date and time, username, text, and if added, links, photos, videos, hashtags and, mentions (Highfield & Leaver, 2014). This consistency leads to the platform easily being used for conversation and collaboration (Gruzd, Wellman, & Takhteyev, 2011). An influencer typically has several thousand followers and interacts with their fans. Interactions include, likes, replies, follows and, retweeting/quote tweeting. Such interactions can be easily seen on the influencer’s and individual’s page. Interactions and posts are quick and fast paced, this simulates the everyday life more in comparison to other social media platforms. The community works and is active as those who participate use Twitter to keep in touch with people, in this case to learn more about an influencer’s life (Gruzd et al., 2011). Influencers can receive tweets and comments about a tweet they posted from individuals, either positive, negative or neutral. Due to more direct, public and accessible conversations, Twitter becomes a more social platform, actively displaying strong connections influencers may have.

The nature of Twitter may cause influencers to alter their identities in terms of the relationships they show publicly. This is especially relevant as in the beauty influencer industry, the friendships one makes are also business relationships, so they might want to boost each other’s following count by faking the strength of the relationship. The community here plays a part as they can be happy to see the close relationship and encourage is by following the other influencer, thus leading to both influencers gaining more power through influence. This displays the power community has on identities of influencers, if they enjoy the identity they showcase, they encourage it and follow them. A way the platform shapes influencers is the nature of the platform. It restricts influencers with the character limit and the fast-paced tweets. Information is spread quickly (Milstein, Lorica, Magoulas, Hochmuth, & Chowdhury, 2009) and can cause influencers to rethink their tweets or count on the fact that Twitter moves quickly and tweet controversial things, as it is a platform of instantaneous posting. This can be seen through the example of James Charles, who got himself into trouble by posting a racist and ignorant tweet, joking about Ebola and Africa. Charles was quickly reprimanded by many and called out for being ignorant and racist and soon after, he apologised (Tea, 2017). Charles was blind to how fast information can spread and how it doesn’t just pass and was reminded of this through his ignorant and racist tweet. After such an event, Charles is no longer seen to be joking about race or Ebola and he has yet to post a tweet without much thought. This shows the power and immense influence of the community and how they can collectively create power in numbers and use it against people who are ignorant and racist. It showcases the way a community and dynamic of a platform can cause an influencer to tweak parts of their identity to fit the platform and its user’s demands.

Conclusion

Overall, both Twitter and Instagram’s community and platform play a part in how an influencer constructs and changes their identity. After exploring both platforms and discussing their similarities and differences, both platforms either lean towards community or platforms in how they influence change. Twitter leans towards the way the platform is constructed and Instagram leaning more on the community. However, both platforms use both platform and community to influence the change. Beauty influencers gain more out of changing their identity power and influence. A little was discussed about the community and the relationship they hold with influencers and the power they have in numbers and individually.

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Instagram has provided a platform for social influencers to create a false sense of wants and needs among young adult women

Abstract 

This conference paper examines the social media app, Instagram and how it has provided the ideal platform for social influencers to create a false sense of wants and needs among young adult women today. It delves into the reasons why Instagram provides a place in which it makes this possible. The factors that contribute to a user becoming an influencer, and the profound effect the images uploaded on this platform have on women and their desires. The paper will disclose some of the biggest social influencers active on Instagram today and the impact they are having on young women and the decisions they make as a result of being exposed to these glimpses of influencers’ lives. The paper will consider the numerous effects influencers have on young adult women, from the clothes they purchase, to the holidays they go book, the fitness trends they partake in and more. The paper will also consider how the images portrayed on Instagram do not always portray the reality of the influencer; they are created to reflect a certain image they want followers to perceive.

Keywords:

Social Media, Instagram, Identity, Influencer, Image

Thesis statement:

Instagram has provided a platform for social influencers to create a false sense of wants and needs among young adult women.

Social media platform, Instagram, has provided a platform for social influencers to create a false sense of wants and needs among young adult women by providing influencers (including celebrities) with a platform to portray a lifestyle filled with everything someone could or should possibly desire. This includes everything from holidays, fashion, cars, beauty and health products and procedures that the impressionable and easily-influenced young adult women yearn for — to be more like the influencers everyone admires so much. Firstly I will discuss what a social influencer is and give examples of a few of the most popular ones today. Secondly I will discuss how influencers use the social media platform Instagram to achieve this status. Thirdly the effect these influencers have on young women’s wants and needs. Finally I will discuss how young women shape their identity and self-worth is shaped by influencers.

It is not a new concept that young adult women, who might arguably be easily influenced, look up to others who seemingly “have it all.” The Kardashian-Jenner family craze is a good example of this. The family who originally rose to fame with a reality show based on their everyday lives now has a cult following of young adult women across all their social media platforms, including Instagram. In turn, the members of this family all make a profitable living from their social media platforms by promoting products on their accounts.

“…the Kardashian-Jenner family members can bring in a sizable income with very minimal effort just by using their social media accounts,” (Kirst, S, 2015).

The Kardashian-Jenner family is just one example. There are numerous young attractive people on Instagram that aren’t classified as a celebrity, but have just as much influence by simply portraying a life that makes others envious. Back before Web 2.0, young adults used to seek information about these people in magazines and television interviews. However, the introduction of social media, in particular the Instagram platform, has allowed young adult women to gain a more in-depth insight into these people aka influencers and their world by building a connection with them that was not available to them previously.

Another good example of a well-known social influencer on Instagram today is Australian fitness guru Kayla Itsines, who has impacted women’s fitness with her Bikini Body Guides. She has a huge following of 9.5 million resulting from the BBG fitness movement which has seen women around the world upload their weight loss progress photos depicting the results they’ve had by using Kayla’s guides. A whole online community has evolved from this and Kayla has a high interaction rate with followers by reposting their progress photos on her account.

Whether young adult women interact with these influencers or simply double tap the photo to like it, they are connected in a way they never were before. Young adults are now privy to their world, to what they get up to on a daily basis, where they go for their morning coffee, which F45 they exercise at, what they eat for breakfast, where they go on holiday and what brand of clothing they wear to that destination. “Instagram provides information about a vast amount of other people, what they are doing, and how they are feeling.” (Vries, Moller, Wieringa, Eigenraam and Hamelink, 2017, p.3).

If followers admire an influencer’s perfect skin, they can purchase the skincare range they use, if they admire their physique, then, they can look at their Instagram profile and see what exercise program they do, according to what appears on their feed that is. For example, if someone wanted lips like Kylie Jenner, they can purchase her Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit. If someone desired to have the same physique as Kayla Itsines, they can download her Bikini Body Guide.

Unlike magazines and television, which young adult women solely relied on in the past to keep up-to-date with influencers, social media platforms like Instagram allow participants to be visible through their self-created profile and links to another network of connections. These connections are simply made by hitting the follow button. It is why Instagram is quite different to other forms of social media (particularly Facebook and LinkedIn) as it does not require someone to have a large friendship or acquaintance group to begin with, in order to grow a significant following. People simply have to have an interest in a certain account’s content. The use of hashtags on Instagram has made it easy for people to find images and accounts with specific themes or content that pertains to their interests. Because all Instagram influencers’ profiles are set to public, they are visible to everyone which has allowed people to easily connect with them on a more intimate level for the first time ever.

However, these influencers are quite insignificant without interaction from their extensive following

The text Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites (boyd 2006) states that the role of followers assist greatly in the building of a person’s online profile and the more connections we have, the greater opportunity there is to interact with others; and this rings true for Influencers, who all have a significant following and therefore have more credibility and clout over someone who just has a handful of followers.

Further to this, Donath and boyd (2004) talks about the importance of growing a network.

“Being the bridge between two otherwise disconnected people or groups is a strategically important role (Burt 2000) particularly if there is valuable information or opportunities to be shared between them. The Bridge, being connected to these disparate groups, has access to a broad range of information.” (p.71).

In this case, Instagram is the “bridge” that allows people to exchange information through images and a sentence or two that captions the image. This was simply not possible before. Instagram has allowed people with similar interests to come together from all over the world. It allows them to share ideas, advice and influence others with the images they capture and share. There is a lot of competition when it comes to Instagram as there are so many accounts to choose from to follow. The content shared by the Influencer needs to remain relevant and interesting in order to retain and increase their following.

The connection between followers and influencers was deemed so important that Instagram debut the all-important blue tick of verification of an account belonging to a celebrity or social influencer. Introduced in August 2017, this tick ensured that users were following and interacting with the “real” influencer. An article produced by UK’s Metro at this time explained the tick as being important for the Instagram platform:

“Verified means that the profile that has been confirmed by the social media platform that it is the official profile for that person, or brand that it represents. This is particularly useful for famous people, so you know you are following the person you intended to and not some phoney.” (Moloney, 2017)

This blue tick was a way of giving influencers authenticity, however it does not necessarily mean their posts will be as well. A lot of influencers are in fact paid to feature products, services, etc. to post on their Instagram.

Kirst discusses how at first glance, Kylie Jenner’s Instagram looks like homogenous photos of the influencer, but there’s much more to it.

“…when you look a little closer – and read the captions on her photos – you realize the pictures can actually be broken into two categories: Gratuitous or endorsed. From waist trainers to false eyelashes, from fashion lines to mattresses, Kylie does not discriminate.”

So, although these influencers might not actually use these products, they portray them in a way that they do. However it would be unfair to say that all social influencers use their position to promote everything and anything for money.

Either way, these posts from influencers have a powerful effect on young adult women, giving them a false sense of want and need to buy the product or use the service regardless.

As of March 1, 2017 social media influencers were made to be more transparent about what products were advertising, and what products they were promoting because they genuinely used and liked.

“…under new advertising standards, social media “influencers” have to clearly label their sponsored content. It means that, for the first time in Australia, you will have a pretty good idea whether the post in your Instagram feed has been paid for by a brand. The new code by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) covers all social media platforms, and any kind of social media user.” (Putill, 2017)

However, these products are still being featured by an influencer in a way that make followers desire them, thus creating a false sense of wants and needs.

For example, you can practice yoga in an old t-shirt and unflattering bike pants and get the same benefit from the workout as someone wearing the latest Lululemon attire.

Lululemon even have brand ambassadors that are active in the yoga scene. So the majority of yoga posts you find on Instagram are associated with the brand which further reinforces this image and a false sense of needing the clothing to partake in the activity.

A picture can convey much more than words which is why the Instagram platform is so effective. It is different to other social media platforms available today as it is predominately image-based, with text being secondary. As a result, people put more time and effort, not to mention filters, into getting the perfect photo to portray the moment in time, which will have a bigger impact on followers and make them want to buy that dress, drink that coffee from the café or visit a certain day spa for a particular facial, so that they too, can live like the person they look up to – that is, the influencer.

Even though it is focussed on images, people are able to leave comments and direct message people, and just recently post live updates, which allows for a lot more interactions between users than when the platform was first released.

Although the tagging feature is available to let followers know the place they are at and the brand of clothes etc. that feature in the image, it is the comments and direct message capability of Instagram that allows them to further communicate with the influencer to ask more about the clothing they might be wearing in the image. For example, what shop, what size they are wearing, if it’s good quality etc. all the typical questions someone would have before making a purchase. It works with everything the influencer would post about, whether it is a facial they had a particular day spa, the skincare they use on a regular basis or the gym class they just posted about attending. Due to an influencer’s extensive following and the trust they build via the two-way interactive relationship allows consumers to feel as if they are making a more informed decision when making a purchase. Influencers are deemed a credible source for information. (Glucksman, 2017).

This is why people take their advice or simply what they have to say on-board and immediately feel confident in purchasing or trying whatever the influencer has posted about.

Regardless of whether these followers actively participate by commenting, liking or direct messaging their connections, they still make up part of this community and can still be influenced by what is posted by the influencers they follow.

Pearson describes this interaction well in All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks with the statement:

“Performance in mediated spaces, such as those found in Web 2.0 and SNS, is an interlocution (Burnett, 2000). As such, it requires willing and engaged participation in mediated exchanges. Whilst it is true that users can lurk, even watching a performance constitutes a form of engagement.” (Pearson, 2009)

So, although followers might not interact with an influencer, it is possible to see an impressive, carefully filtered image that captures attention. In this instance, it could be a photo of an influencer at a new bar, you can then ‘follow’ the Instagram account for that bar and then later go to the bar with a sense of urgency just because it appeared on an influencers account, not necessarily because you really need to.

Overall influencers portray a life of almost perfection, in which “everyday” young adult women aspire to. By letting followers into their worlds, influencers are giving them desires that they might not have even thought of before or realised that they needed. A lot of what is seen is a highlights reel of the influencer’s life, mundane tasks, or actions are photographed in a way that makes it looks far more exciting than it is portrayed through filters.

More often than not, the typical young adult women feel the need to live up to these unrealistic expectations after following the influencers’ accounts.

“Individuals compare themselves and their lives to others based on the information they receive about these others. Given the vast amounts of social information that social media offer, it is not surprising that university students said in interviews that they compared themselves to others on social media.” (Doyle et al., 2017)

However they will be persuaded to use the same beauty product, or perhaps undertake the influencer’s fitness campaign in order to be more like them in some shape, way or form or perhaps be inspired to pursue the same career or have the same ambitions as someone they follow.

In the paper entitled Public displays on connection (Donath and boyd, 2004) it reaffirms this and touches on how these platforms and displays facilitate these connections. It states:

“Social networks – our connections with other people – have many important functions. They are sources of emotional and financial support, and of information about jobs, other people, and the world at large. The types of social networks that develop in different communities have a profound effect on the way people work, the opportunities they have, and the structure of their daily life.” (Donath and boyd, 2004, p.1).

Instagram definitely provides the ideal platform for connections and with people that we normally would not be able to connect with before its existence. As a result, like Donath and Boyd said, it has a “profound effect on daily life,” (Donath and boyd, 2004).

Social media platforms in general have produced a generation of people who document their everyday living on their Instagram accounts. It is a common occurrence to see people publicly taking selfies with their cocktails, at the beach, or out shopping, similar to those influencers they so eagerly follow. As a result, a lot of young adults today base their worth upon the number of likes and followers they have on their Instagram accounts.

To draw on Pearson’s reading again entitled, All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks it refers to this display of people’s lives on social media as the glass bedroom. The text states that:

“The metaphor can take a number of forms, but at its core it describes a bedroom with walls made of glass. Inside the bedroom, private conversations and intimate exchanges occur, each with varying awareness of distant friends and strangers moving past transparent walls that separate groups from more deliberate and constructed ‘outside’ displays. The glass bedroom itself is not an entirely private space, nor a true backstage space as Goffman articulated, though it takes on elements of both over the course of its use.” (Pearson, 2009.)

This reading gives a rather accurate description of Instagram and the way people, in particular Influencers utilise the social media platform in a way that sees them only sharing images that depict them in a light they want to be viewed, allowing them to control what is presented to the audience.

As a result, social media and Instagram in particular is often referred to as someone’s “highlights reel” – people are viewing all the good things happening in someone’s life and this is not always accurate.

Many young adult women of today have a desire to be an influencer themselves. Instagram has seen the emergence of people making a living from sponsored posts. Influencers get paid by companies to feature products on their in order to market them to their extensive following. This creates a false sense of needs and wants among the young adults following them. While achieving celebrity status might not be within reach for most people, it is more likely they can be like their favourite influencer and have “it all” – just like them.

Lifestyle envy is the psychological term that explains the feeling that someone gets when they see a picture on Instagram that they want. It is this comparison young adult women feel when scrolling through Instagram that gives them a false sense of needs and wants.

Young adult women do not need things, or products to be happy, but Instagram is shaped in a way that influences them to believe they do.

As a result, Instagram has indeed provided a platform for social influencers to create a false sense of wants and needs among young adult women. It is almost forced upon us, sometimes subliminally to want what they have and more.

 

References:

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Carbone, A. Wolf Millionaire, The psychology behind your Instagram post. Retrieved from http://blog.wolfmillionaire.com/psychology-behind-instagram-post/

Donath, J., & boyd, d. (2004). Public Displays of Connection. BT Technology Journal, 22(4), 71-82. Retrieved from

http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/socialnetdisplay.draft.pdf

Glucksman, M (2017). The rise of social media influencer marketing on lifestyle branding: A case study of Lucie Fink. https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/communications/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2017/12/08_Lifestyle_Branding_Glucksman.pdf

Moloney, A. (2017, August 17). What does the blue tick on Instagram mean. Metro. Retrieved from

http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/11/what-does-the-blue-tick-on-instagram-mean-6843460/

Pearson, E. (2009). All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks. First Monday. 14(3). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2162/2127

Purtill, J. (2017, 3, 2) Instafamous must reveal #ads under new transparency rules. ABC’s Triple J Hack. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/social-influencers-must-reveal-ad-under-new-transparency-rules/8315962

The biggest, most popular Instagram influencers for 2018. (2018). Retrieved from http://mediakix.com/2016/08/top-instagram-influencers-for-2016/#gs.O8NddII

Vries, Moller, Wieringa, Eigenraam and Hamelink (2017). Social comparison as the thief of joy: Emotional consequences of viewing strangers’ Instagram posts. Media Psychology. Volume 21 (issue 2). Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2016.1267647?src=recsys

Wellman, B., & Gulia, M. (1999). Net surfers don’t ride alone: Virtual community as community. In P. Kollock & M. Smith (Eds.), Communities and Cyberspace. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/netlab/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Net-Surfers-Dont-Ride-Alone-Virtual-Community-as-Community.pdf

 

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The Social Capital of SMIs in the Consumerist Realm

Abstract:
            Social Media Influencers (SMIs) play a growing and important role within the consumerist realm. The wealth of SMIs social capital lies in the number of followers they have who are loyal patrons to the SMIs brand. Companies have realised they need to take advantage of the power of SMIs’ social capital to successfully advertise their goods and services in the modern market. Specifically, paid partnerships and brand collaborations are the main avenue that SMIs and brands are optimizing their reach. SMI and micro-celebrity Sarah Stevenson, popularly known as Sarah’s Day on social network sites, is used as an example to portray the way these marketing techniques are launched on platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. It is evident from the examples provided, complimented by scholarly theory that it is mutually beneficial, financially and social capitally, for SMIs and enterprises to work together.
Introduction:

The virtual revolution through the rise of social networking opened an entire new perspective on online commerce. Now, more than ten years on from the birth of social media networking, the fine-tuned tools of technology are beginning to create a market shift in world of advertising. The market is now saturated with advertising plastered across every orifice, which is desensitizing customers. It is becoming clearer that traditional forms of media promotion, such as television, newspaper, radio and magazine advertising are quickly becoming outdated. This has left establishments scrambling to find the next wave of marketing techniques to sell their latest products and services while re-finding the attention of their consumers, leading to partnerships with Social Media Influencers (SMIs) to access their community of followers. SMIs are the new form of “micro-celebrity,” exposing their personal brand online to their thousands of faithful followers (Khamis et al., 2016; Hearn & Schoenoff, 2016). The term “micro-celebrity” is now becoming synonymous with SMIs and is defined as “mind-set and a set of practices that courts attention through insights into its practitioners’ private lives, and a sense of realness that renders their narratives, their branding, both accessible and intimate” (Khamis et al., 2016, p.202). Companies now realise the social capital that SMIs create through their followers can highly valuable in branding and marketing. This paper will discuss the importance of optimizing SMIs community of social capital to create effective and successful sales for brands on social networks such as Instagram and YouTube.

 

Social Networks and Social Media Influencers:

With social networking becoming ubiquitous within our lives its capabilities have a powerful influence over how we construct our existence. Whether that is entertainment, socialization, play or information sharing, social networking sites have become the platform where an increasing amount of our activity plays out (Langlois, 2016). These days, a potential “worldwide audience” is at the fingertips of anyone that has to access to a smartphone (Dijkmands et al., 2015, p.58). SMIs have capitalized on this possibility by exposing themselves to the online world and in return for their “micro-celebrity” status they have received an overwhelming response of support in the form of followers. More and Lingam (2017) define SMIs as

“any person who reviews product, posts a blog about a new product, any industry expert or any person who has a potential to influence people” (p.1).

Therefore a SMI can be anyone with social media platforms that have a few thousand followers to a few hundred thousand followers. Influencers are formed over time, not born instantly, through designing themselves on their social networks through their own original and reliable personal brand (Hearn & Schoenhoff, 2016, p.194). Although it may be thought that the basis SMIs influence lacks credibility and depth, Freberg et al. (2011) found in a survey that SMIs were believed to have similar qualities to CEOs. SMIs were “perceived as smart, ambitious, productive, poised, power-oriented, candid, and dependable” (Freberg et al., 2011, p.91). Clearly, through their qualities and intense community of following, SMIs are held to a high regard from their audiences. Most importantly to companies promoting their products and services SMIs “help potential customers make a buying decision by influencing [their] opinion, through social networking” (More & Lingam, 2017, p.1). This makes it vital for brands to work with influencers to promote their goods and services with the goal of having a positive impact on marketing and sales.

 

Business on Social Media:

Many companies, and their customers, see it as essential to have a presence on Social Networking Sites (SNS). In Kaske et al.’s (2012) studies, it was even found that companies that have a social media presence tend to have “higher customer retention, better customer communication, potential avoidance of outrage, sales increases, and greater reach” (p. 3904). Although not all businesses are based economically online, having a presence to engage with customers is shown to improve “customer retention, customer communication, and outrage avoidance” which becomes an asset termed ‘customer equity” (Kaske et. Al., 2012, p. 3901; p. 3903). Media saturation in today’s social networking systems, sites and platforms has lead to collaboration with SMIs to optimize their community of followers’ trust, commercializing the attention economy. SMIs now hold the loyal attention of a large number of people on social media so it is simple to understand the reasoning behind the drive to work with them. Thayne (2012) continues that

“in contemporary societies we are confronted with more information than can possibly be fully processed; therefore, attention economics emphasizes the significance of designing and developing methods to swiftly and effectively direct attention in order to deliver the right advertisements to the desired target market” (p.2).

This rethought process has been accessed by optimizing on the social capital of SMIs to market their products through avenues such as paid partnerships and collaborations. Within this essay this will be displayed using a local Australian SMI called Sarah’s Day who has recently been optimizing on her strong social capital.

Defining Social Capital:

Keely (2007) simply explains that social capital can be thought of as a common set of understandings and values within a community or society, allowing groups to develop levels of trust and provide an environment where they can work together if they are so inclined. Katz et al., (2004) states that “[strong] community ties are linked to intimacy, voluntary involvement, frequency of communication, feelings of companionship, knowing each other in multiple contexts, enduring ties, mutual ties, having one’s needs met, and shared social characteristics. Virtual communities and online environments deliver all of these” (p.337). Until the rise of the Internet and particularly SNS, societies were not able to form these intimate ties with such a large scale of individuals negating the boundaries or distant, race, time-zone’s and even language. This is because in because pre-Internet social capital had a stronger tie to spatial proximity (Katz et al., 2004). The mechanics to allow communication and the relationship formation outside of spatial proximity were tied to telephone and mail communication, which deterred the formation of strong ties, widespread asynchronous communication and community construction. SNS have allowed astronomical growth of social capital because connections are “based more on common ideas, interests, and occupations” rather than purely location (Katz, 2004, p.345). Koput (2010) believes that the expansion of social capital is rooted in repeated contact, which “must be ongoing, meaning that it is subject to occurring again at some time, although such a time can be indefinite” (p.3). SNS allows fluid and repeated access to promote communication with ease.

 

Discussing SMIs and Social Capital Optimization through Marketing:

It is clear that SMIs, through the power of the affordances of social media in a technological driven world, are able to gain an extreme amount of social capital online. SMIs have created virtual communities by promoting their personal brand and attracting like-minded people to follow them. Whether that community be based around fitness, fashion, beauty, sport, gaming, cooking or even mindfulness, SMI’s are tapping in on the variety of the Internet to extradite their niche group of followers. The success of SMIs and a method to measure their social capital is based “on factors such as number of daily hits on a blog, number of times a post is shared, or number of followers” (Freberg et al., 2011, p.90).

 

Figure 1: Sarahs Day Instagram account (Stevenson, May 2018c)

To expand on the methods utilized by SMIs and provide industry examples I will use a well-known Australian SMI called Sarah’s Day (@sarahs_day) and formally named Sarah Stevenson who is a New South Wales based Instagrammer, YouTuber and self-titled content creator. Originally Sarah started her YouTube channel in 2013 and has grown her “micro-celebrity” status to now having over four hundred thousand followers on Instagram and over six hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube (www.youtube.com/SarahsDay). Sarah engages frequently on accounts posting daily on Instagram, interacting multiple times a day on her Instagram stories and posting videos on YouTube channel every three days. She has been chosen as a case study due to her recent surge of working with other businesses for mutually benefiting profit through paid partnerships and collaborations.

Sarah is a vlogger, therefore someone who creates vlogs which Gao et al. (2010) claims is rooted from the amalgamation of the two separate words video and blog. It is obvious that video’s “can show a lot more than text, [therefore] vlogs provide a much more expressive medium for vloggers than text-blogs in which to communicate with the outer world” (Gao et al., 2010, p.2). Sarah Days’ niche in the building of the personal brand that she attracts is females who are interested in holistic health, fitness and cooking. She has built a community online from her followers around the world which she calls her #sezzysquad. Sarah’s Day clearly has created a strong social capital emphasized by Katz et al.’s (2004) belief that “[the] functions of virtual communities to foster communities of interest, information spread, and equality of status all work to enhance social capital, despite their lack of direct physical orientation” (p.325). It is Katz et. al’s (2004) belief that more recently, because of the common basis of ideas, occupations and interests, that ties and relationships have become more “organic.” Because Sarah’s community are people that follow her for her health and fitness advice alluding to the fact that their following is based in common interests, it is clear that Sarah has built a strong community with hundreds of thousands of followers.

 

 

In more recent months Sarah’s Day has proved Katz et al.’s (2004) thought that an increase of social capital online will transfer to a “rise in offline contact, civic engagement, and a sense of community, and the other traditional forms of social capital” (p. 325).  Although the financial aspect of companies alliance with this SMI haven’t been made public, Sarah’s Day has recently been working with White Fox Boutique, an online clothing store and iHerb.com an online health food store (Stevenson, 2018a; Stevenson, 2017; Stevenson, 2016). I will use Sarah’s Day affiliations with brands through collaborations and paid partnerships to understand the mutual financial benefit of optimizing the social capital of SMIs networks.

Paid Partnerships:

An article in the economist detailing the finances behind paid partnerships proves that companies are exploiting influencers’ social capital. It is now believed that “[hiring] such influencers allows companies to reach a vast network of potential customers” (“Celebrities’ endorsement,” 2016, para. 2). Paid partnerships or sponsored posts are a relatively new realm in the social media world however social networking sites are starting to form rules around this area to ensure that followers understand what is authentic and what is paid. Frier (2017) explains that in the past year “[influencers] are supposed to signal when they are being paid via hashtags on their posts that say #ad or #sponsored” (para. 4). In October 2016, Sarah’s day posted a video that she sneakily said was brought to subscribers by iHerb.com, meaning that she was paid to publish this vlog. Although it may have aligned with her content, she didn’t outwardly and clearly announced that it was a paid partnership because many influencer “simply fail to note the relationship at all out of concern they’ll appear inauthentic” (Frier, 2017, para. 4). As Hearn and Schoenhoff (2016) state, “[the] pursuit of “authentic” promotional connections with fans can include celebrities posting “candid” photos of “everyday life” in brand- name outfits on Instagram, or mentioning a product they have encountered on Twitter” (p.204). This example is shown by Sarah’s Day underwhelming emphasis to mention the paid partnership and over emphasis of stating that these are products she would usually buy however she wanted to make it more accessible to all of her fans by using an online store.

The perks of these partnerships can be astronomically and financially beneficial for the SMI involved. According to the Economist a SMI with between half a million to a million subscribers can be paid up to twenty-five thousand dollars for a sponsored YouTube video (“Celebrities’ endorsement,” 2016), that amount can even soar to three hundred thousand dollars per video on the basis of having over seven million subscribers. Although that amount may seem astronomical as Freberg et al. (2011) claims, SMIs “represent a new type of independent third party endorser who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media” (p.90). The trust built from the social capital of Sarah’s Days’ following has a positive impact on the iHerb.com by providing a positive review of their products and service shifting the desired eyes of the attention economy onto their business.

Figure 2: The Economist detailing differentiation of compensation for SMIs for each platform dependent on the size of their social capital through the number of followers they have (“Celebrities’ endorsement,” 2016)

 

According to the statistics of this particular video review, as of March 27th, 2018 Sarah’s recording had over one hundred and sixty thousand views, which lead to over two hundred shares and provided her with over two hundred and fifty subscriptions (Stevenson, 2016). The number of subscriptions and shares driven from this particular video proves that mutually beneficial relationship for both company and SMI.

Brand Collaborations:

SMIs’ CEO like qualities are helping them realize the benefits of being business savvy where they hold the power in a knowledge economy (Freberg et al., 2011; Crogan & Kingsley, 2012). Therefore, another form of alliance with companies is shown through official collaboration. This is when an SMI works with a brand to collectively create a product from that brand associated with the influencer SNS pseudonym. Recently there have been many examples of this however in the case of Sarah’s Day in recent months she has collaborated with White Fox Boutique, an online clothing shop. Sarah announced on February 27th, 2018 that she had spent half a year “designing and developing a 15 piece active wear collection [from scratch],” with the online clothing boutique (Stevenson, 2018a). The line gained so much attention from her followers that on the launch date the site crashed from overflowing traffic (Stevenson, 2018b).

Figure 3: Sarah’s announcement that her overwhelming loyalty from her social capital led to a website crash from overflowing traffic when her collaboration was released (Stevenson 2018)

 

It is fascinating that “simply by expressing themselves, individuals have become empowered participants in an emerging online reputation economy, where the reputation generated by social media participation functions as a new form of currency and, more generally, value” (Hearn & Schoenhoff, 2016, p.203). This has literally turned in financial currency for both influencers and the brands that they associate with. There is no denying from the information shown for SMIs combined with the traffic and attention gained through SMIs social capital that collaborations are mutually beneficial.

 

Conclusion:

This paper has discussed the economic benefits for SMIs and companies combined in a society that is noticing the rise of the “micro-celebrity” (Marwick, 2016). Influencers are becoming the new powerful ‘authentic’ voices online in a world that is saturated with advertising and commercialism. The desire to hold onto authenticity while self-sustaining through business relationship is the unwavering downfall of these relationships. SMIs are chasing to form a “perception of authenticity [to create] a space that is readily exploitable, insofar as SMIs can parlay the trust they inspire into myriad commercial arrangements” (Khamis et al., 2016, p.203). SMIs are trying to under emphasize the affiliations with brands through paid partnerships and move to more collaborations to hold steadfast strength in their social capital. Nevertheless, the combination of “influence maximization” and “social influence” have created a new wave of marketing online through social media (More & Lingam, 2017). It is undeniable that there is bilateral economic prosperity gained through the union of SMIs and brands with the strength of the community of social capital in SMIs networks.

 

 

References:

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The Instagram Phenomenon: Shaping young women’s expectations about beauty and success

Abstract

This paper explores how Social Networking Sites (SNS), with specific reference to Instagram communities, are changing the way humans communicate, which in turn is changing the entire inner workings of our social lives and how we conceptualise and understand “the self”. Drawing on a number of academics, this paper brings together notions of “self-promotional behaviours” and ‘narcissism” (Moon et al., 2016), the ways Instagram is serving as a new platform for “creative self-enterprise” (Duffy and Hund, 2015), the reflection of capitalist ideals through the notion of “self-branding” (Khamis, Ang and Welling, 2016) and lastly, the influence of social media’s fitness culture on perceptions of beauty and body image (Norton, 2017). These interconnected notions explain how Instagram communities are deeply affecting young women’s expectations of happiness and success through self presentation which largely emphasises living the “ideal” life.

Keywords: Instagram communities, self-branding, capitalism, self-esteem, young women, expectations

Introduction

Over the past 15 or so years, a great number of academics and industry researchers have begun discussing the affects of Social Networking Sites (SNS) on social life and human communication. SNS, as we know them today, came to fruition in 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) launched his soon-to-be billion dollar site at Harvard University (Thompson, 2008, p.1). Since then, SNS have provided a new platform and space for a new form of self presentation, as well as forming and maintaining relationships (Moon, et al., 2016, p.22). One study suggests that users of the SNS, Instagram, tend to post photos of their “ideal” self, always looking photo-ready whilst out enjoying leisurely activities, which is inherently problematic as it creates unrealistic expectations of day-to-day activities and duties, as well as what it means to be happy and successful (Moon, et al., 2016, p.22). In this paper, I argue that Instagram communities shape young women’s expectations and understanding about happiness and success through self presentation which largely emphasizes living the “ideal” life. Firstly I will discuss Moon’s (2016) article around the self-promotional behaviour of Instagram users and its connection with narcissism which will help in providing an understanding of the dominant demographic of Instagram users. Secondly, I will be introducing Duffy and Hund’s (2015) ideas around Instagram serving as a new platform for women to create income streams while maintaining their femininity and sense of empowerment. Thirdly, I will be introducing the significance of Capitalism in the context of the “self-branding” phenomenon seen on Instagram through looking at an article by Khamis, Ang and Welling (2016), and lastly, I will be discussing Norton’s (2017) analysis of Instagram’s fitness culture and how it affects body image and self-esteem. Furthermore, the discussion will include the limitations to each of these articles in hope of providing a holistic argument.

Literature Review

As mentioned in the introduction, Moon et al. (2016) discuss the self-promotional behaviours of Instagram users and the suggested correlation with the personality trait narcissism, a term which refers to inflated self image and feelings of superiority over others (Lee, 2004, p.4). The study shows that people who show a higher propensity for narcissism spend more time in online communities participating in self-promotional activities for example, posting “selfies” (Moon, et al., 2016, p.24), a colloquial term referring to the “self-portrait photograph” coined in the early 2000’s in Australia (The Guardian, 2013). This study helps to create an understanding of the sorts of people who are the dominant users of Instagram. We can see how these people form a “distorted self-concept” in an attempt to elevate their perceived status (Moon et al. 2016, p.22). Moon et al. (2016, p.22) highlighted that this was seen to be driven by feelings of low self-esteem which is particularly interesting as one would think that low-self esteem would not be closely associated with narcissistic behaviours. Moon et al. (2016, p. 22) propose that their research shows that close to half of the photos posted on to Instagram are “selfies” or photos of the users with their friends. The study found that the frequency at which the photos were posted lead back to the link between people spending significant amounts of time in online communities on social media, and narcissism. I argue this highlights the problematic nature of the influence of Instagram communities on self esteem and body image. This particular analysis of the personality trait narcissism and its close relationship with promotional online behavior could be used as a way of understanding what is at the core of what is shaping young women’s expectations about body image and beauty. In addition, Linnebach (2004, p.3) uses the term “socio-cultural epidemic” to refer to unrealistic beauty standards which are affecting how women perceive themselves in relation to this beauty standard. I argue using the term “epidemic” is powerful in understanding the magnitude of this issue in today’s society.
Similarly, Duffy and Hund (2015, p.1) look into the notion of “having it all” and how Instagram has become a new platform for women, in particular, to create income streams through “creative modes of self-enterprise” for example, the rise of micro-celebrities and fashion bloggers. They argue that Instagram has evidently been a place where women can build lucrative careers, based at home, whilst maintaining their femininity, sense of individuality, and empowerment; however, the enterprise has done little to reconcile or tackle issues on the gender and race inequalities prevalent on the app (Duffy and Hund, 2015). This was noted by there being a serious underrepresentation of “women of colour, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals, as well as plus size models” in photos (Duffy and Hund, 2015). I would argue that these issues of gender and race inequality, all add to the pressures which exist because of the Western hegemonic heteronormative expectations in these online communities. Anecdotally, I can attest this through my own observations of the popular images on Instagram being white, straight, skinny and attractive individuals. Furthermore, Duffy and Hund (2015) argue that there are limitations to consider in the analysis of the rise of “creative self-enterprise” and that individuals must be critical when thinking about online SNS such as Instagram. Their concluding thoughts also suggested that these women, and the content of their blogs and profiles, are inherently driven by the capitalist agenda, constraining them by ensuring that they maintain the role of the blind consumer (Duffy and Hund, 2015, p. 9).
As we can see, Capitalism thrives, still, as the under current of even the most creative and independent careers. Khamis, Ang and Welling (2016) address this by seeking to conceptualize the term “self-branding” within the bounds of the Capitalist system. The term “self-branding” refers to the idea of selling one’s public image for commercial gain and/or social/cultural capital (Khamis, Ang, and Welling, 2016, p.123). Like Duffy and Hund (2015), the authors make connections between the idea of advanced consumer capitalism, marketing, and “self-branding” in these online spaces, such as Instagram. The paper looks at the rise of term “self-branding” as a reflection of the “uncertain labour markets” and a way in which neo-liberal governance encourage people to see themselves as entrepreneurial, money making subjects (Khamis, Ang, and Welling, 2016, p.201). I would argue that this correlates with what Duffy and Hund (2015) suggest as being essentially just another form of consumerism in an advanced capitalist society. Moreover, Ziółkowski (2004) writes on the topic of the commodification of social life and in particular, Marx’s introduction of the term “commodity fetishism” which he used in reference to the commodification of the workforce (2004, p.387). I believe there can be a connection made between Marx’s theory of “commodity fetishism” and the aforementioned notion of “self-branding”. Lastly, I would like to bring in an article which provides a good example of how influential Instagram communities can be in shaping the expectations of young women’s ideas about beauty and success. Norton (2017) addresses this issue by analysing social media’s fitness culture and the effects it has on body image and self esteem. He begins by highlighting the fact that on the surface, “fitspiration” and motivational health blogs do exactly what their names entail, inspire fitness; however, “like everything in the media” (2017, p. 6), there is always a person behind the message who may or may not be taking into account social and cultural diversity. Norton (2017, p.6) argues that this can create feelings of low self-esteem and negative body image among, particularly, women (even those who are not categorised as belonging to a minority group). However, this can also be seen in Instagram communities with predominantly men as members (bodybuilders), which Norton (2017, p.6) suggests is due to feelings of inadequacy and discouragement which is seen as a natural response to the unrealistic facade many people create. Following on from this, Social psychologist, Leon Festinger, proposed that people will build perceptions of themselves by comparing their image and their “success” to others, which can be problematic as this is generally done in a way of “upward social comparison” (Norton, 2017, p.16). This type of comparison, that encourages an individual to compare themselves to someone who they perceive to be better, is certainly not uncommon on social media, despite being seriously damaging (Norton, 2017, p.17).Norton (2017, p.7) uses examples such as people obsessing over their body image for the sake of appearance in the form of self-destructive eating and exercise habits. Conversely, the article also mentions that “fitspiration” does allow for people to connect with one another in online communities which provides a level of social support as well as encouragement and motivation (Norton, 2017, p. 27). Despite this, the repercussions (negative effects on body image) must be accounted for. Norton (2017, p.26-27) makes quick mention of how this can be done through “media literacy”, which “aims to educate people on how to better access, analyze, evaluate, and create media”, something that I would argue could be a useful focus for further research into how we, both as individuals and as a society, can be better equipped in dealing with the effects of social media and online social networks such as Instagram.

Discussion

All four articles raise some important questions around the SNS Instagram and its effects on how young women perceive beauty, happiness, and success. However, there are some limitations to each of these studies that are certainly cause for further questioning. Before going into the technological constraints, demographic factors, and issues of modality, I would like to make note of a shared limitation that I came across in all four articles; information inadequacy. Although the scope of research into the effects social media and new computer mediated technologies is expanding, there is certainly room for further research into how the younger generation are being impacted and how the “context” and “affordances” of these technologies are changing the way people develop their “self-concept” (Moon et al. 2016, p.22) and identity (Brown, 2016).

Technological limitations. The Moon et al. (2016) and the Norton (2017) studies both collected their data via online surveys, in comparison to Duffy and Hund (2015) who developed a varied data collection method. I would argue that limiting oneself to only one form of collecting data/information would in turn impede the research parameters and sample size, providing limited data for discussion. Duffy and Hund (2015); however, used a variety of different methods including: the coding of “about me” sections, “strategically” gathering photos and conducting in depth interviews, all of which make for a more holistic analysis and conclusion.
Demographic limitations. Again, the Moon et al. (2016) study was conducted in Korea, which very quickly narrows the scope of the research and lessens the validity of the findings. Furthermore, the only research conducted where there was mention of the affects on men, was the Norton (2017) article. The other articles focused solely on women, as a demographic, when the issue is not confined to women but can affect men as well.
Modality limitations. The Khamis, Ang, and Welling (2016) article did not provide any quantitative data which I would argue had an influence on the impact of their argument. The other articles provided both qualitative and quantitative data which further reinforced their argument, for example, the collection of both interview and survey data as well as a foundation in academic research.

Conclusion and Future Study

Throughout this conference paper I have discussed Instagram as a space for a new form of self-presentation. I have critically analysed four academic articles which have helped in developing my argument further and reinforcing ideas on the influence of the Instagram community in particular. The first article by Moon et al. (2016) discussed the role of narcissism in Instagram users, they concluded that the more frequently people post photos, the higher the levels of narcissism; however, the motivation for posting photos frequently, was to receive positive feedback and to elevate one’s own perceived status as compensation for low self-esteem. The second article by Duffy and Hund (2015) highlights the fact that Instagram has allowed for women to work in lucrative careers through self-promotion, based at home. The authors then go on to explain that although this may seem like a “win” for feminism and women in general, there is an obvious agenda which is driven by capitalist ideals, which keeps the women ignorant to their own oppression, grounded in consumption. Khamis, Ang and Welling (2016), further reinforce this notion by looking at how even the language used e.g. “self-branding” could be seen as way the neo-liberal agenda has crept into the social media discourse, making sure people remain ignorant and unconcerned with the power of consumption and the influence it has on their day-to-day lives. Lastly, Norton’s (2017) paper highlighted the affects of fitness blogs on self-esteem and body image. This article was particularly interesting as it not only provided a take on “fitspiration” that underpinned the negative aspects and influence it can have, but also touched on the ways that people can avoid developing negative feelings about their body image or self esteem. All four articles raised some important points surrounding the volatile and highly influential nature of the app. Moreover, they all reinforced my argument by providing evidence which suggested that Instagram communities can shape young women’s expectations and understanding about what it means to be beautiful and live a happy, healthy, and successful life. Finally, as I discussed briefly above, there were evidently some limitations to each study that I argue could certainly be improved on for future research, an example of this could be expanding the data collection parameters to gain a broader understanding of the SNS.

References

Brown, P. G. (2016). College students, social media, digital identities, and the digitized
self(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1776598125?pq-origsite=primo

Duffy, B. E., & Hund, E. (2015). “Having it all” on social media: Entrepreneurial
femininity and self-branding among fashion bloggers. Social Media and Society, 1-11. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/2056305115604337

Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2016). Self-branding, ‘micro-celebrity’ and the rise
of Social Media Influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191-208. doi:10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292

Lee, E. (2004). Narcissism and self-presentation: Conceptualization and empirical
evidence(Master’s thesis). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/305155736?pq-origsite=primo

Linnebach, D. (2004). Culture’s not so great expectations: Does feminist identity
moderate women’s experiences with sexism and body image dissatisfaction? (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/305138819/fulltextPDF/3AAA0E7DD66A49E2PQ/1?accountid=10382

Moon, J. H., Lee, E., Lee, J., Choi, T. R., & Sung, Y. (2016). The role of narcissism in
self-promotion on Instagram. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 22-25. Retrieved from
https://ac-els-cdn-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/S0191886916304032/1-s2.0-S0191886916304032-main.pdf?_tid=5f018659-846d-456d-82c7-d68904c4addd&acdnat=1521861815_3e75177ea8bb689b6938f28fca4fd7cb

Norton, M. (2017). Fitspiration: Social media’s fitness culture and its effect on body
image(Master’s thesis, California State University). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=caps_thes_all

Thompson, C. (2008, September 5). Brave New World Of Digital Intimacy. Retrieved
March 24, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html

Selfie: Australian slang term named international word of the year. (2013,
November 19). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/selfie-australian-slang-term-named-international-word-of-the-year

Ziółkowski, M. (2004). Commodification of social life. Polish Sociological Review,
4(148), 385-402. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/stable/pdf/41274900.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:6ef2c84f212384d9cf3ce2d2bf26bf4b

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Using Instagram risks young adult users to develop depression

POSTED ON 06/05/2018 BY RATIMA CHANDREMA

Abstract

This paper discusses social networking sites (SNSs), which are used by around 40% of the world’s population daily to create an online world where users can use to present themselves, interact and stay connected with friends or strangers (Brown, 2018). In 2010, a social application named “Instagram” was developed and become the most popular image-based application. By that, many researches relate to social media and mental health issues have looked at the connection between them. In this paper, it will particularly investigate the connection between Instagram and depression. This paper will examine on common motives of using Instagram by young adults such as coolness and surveillance/knowledge about others and factors such as time spending on Instagram, percent of strangers followed, and social comparison which could be a risk to have depressive symptoms and could affect young adult users.

Keywords: Depression, Instagram, Mental Health, Social Media

 

Social networking sites (SNSs) give a public/private online space for individuals to present themselves and have remarkably changed the way we communicate, express our identity, do business, and live. Some of the most well-known and popular include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These SNS and associated applications are providing a channel for users to stay connected with their friends, communities, and the world (Donnelly, 2017). In these applications, users can share their ideas, personal information, photos and other kinds of media to their friends or even strangers. These abilities encourage users to express things that represent their identity. However, one of the SNS’s essential characteristics is social interaction from both content creator and viewer sides. These mentioned features create an online social world that is fundamentally different than its offline counterpart. To be successful in online social media applications means that the user has a lot of interaction from other users. The way to count those interactions is by looking at the number of their followers, numbers of likes and comment on their posts. It inspires users to present the most positive aspect of their lives in order to gain virtual attentions such as likes, or comments not only from their friends, but strangers around the world (Lup, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015). Most young adult users strive to be recognized in social media which is one of the negative impacts of using social media. This paper will focus on one of the most famous SNS among young adult, aged between 18-29-year-old called Instagram. It will examine on a statement that the usage of Instagram could affect young adult users to develop depressive symptoms.

Instagram and young adults

Instagram

Instagram is an online photo-sharing application which has 800 Million users from around the world (Wade, 2018). It is one of the most popular SNS applications among young adults. Instagram allows users to post pictures and short videos to their profiles. Text-only contents cannot be created on Instagram unlike other social media such as Facebook or Twitter (Lee, Lee, Moon & Sung, 2015). Users can write a caption or use hashtags to describe the photos. To look at the notable social interaction features, Instagram users can like, comment on posts, send direct messages to other users and they are able to tag other users in their pictures as well. Instagram users can choose to make their profile as a public or private profile but it is common for people to set their profile as public. The primary reasons of using a public profile are that it enables other users to able to view, follow the profile, give likes and comments on public posts. Another reason is the public profile can be searchable via names or hashtags on its posts (Lup, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015). By that, using hashtags can promote your pictures as well as your profile to be followed by other users who could be random strangers and gain popularity.

 

Motives of Using Instagram

Almost 60% of Instagram users are young adults, aged between 18 and 29-year-old (Wade, 2018). Sheldon & Bryant (2016), analysed Instagram users’ behaviors and studied the motives of using Instagram. The results show there are 4 major purposes of using Instagram which are surveillance/knowledge about others, documentation, coolness, and creativity. Moreover, they also found that users tend to put less significant on connecting or interacting with other people, but they focus more on personal identity and self-promotion. Two motives which are important to this paper are coolness and surveillance/knowledge about others.

People normally join activities because of popularity with their friends (Sheldon & Bryant, 2016). In the case of Instagram, it has features which society considers they are cool such as applying filters for your photos, tagging, following trendy hashtags, convenient ways to explore other users’ photos, and opportunities to follow celebrities’ life. Further than the features, Instagram offers a channel for ordinary people to gain popularity and self-promotion. Most of Instagram users’ goal is to gain a significant number of “likes” on their posts. For instance, Dumas, Maxwell-Smith, Davis & Giulietti (2017) have examined the frequency of doing like-seeking behaviors by almost 500 participants and the result presents that about 90% of participants have at least one like-seeking behavior. The most common behaviors are uploading and taking a picture, using a hashtag and a filter while using software or application to modify one’s physical appearance, and purchasing followers and likes are the least common behaviours (Dumas et al., 2017). They concern about the “likes” because ‘likes” are used to justify their popularity, also the number of followers is used to judge one’s popularity (Sheldon & Bryant, 2016). Greenwood (2013) said that it is human nature to have the need to feel seen, valued, and recognized by other people. Therefore, the “likes”, “comments”, and the number of followers have acted as a kind of social support from others. These can directly affect one’s self-esteem and self-worth. For example, participants in a study describe that they feel like winning, happy and flattered when they receive attentions such as likes or comments, on the other hand, it can lower self-confidence and self-esteem when they do not get many attentions (Chua & Chang, 2016).

Another motive that may cause depressive symptom is surveillance/knowledge about others. One of the main reasons for using Instagram is “surveillance/knowledge about others” (Whiting and Williams, 2013). Users that have this motive want to use Instagram to interact with friends, to see visual posts of others, to follow friends and inspirational accounts, to “like” followers’ photos. To look at the term “knowledge about others”, it means that users like to gather other users’ information ranging from socio-economic status, relationship status, number of friends and more which can be found on the Instagram profiles. These actions and behaviors of browsing other users’ photos on Instagram may trigger the presumption that these photos are demonstrative of how those users actually live. As the research from Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) asserts that the act of conclusive other people life by judging from shown photos on Instagram’s profile makes people more vulnerable because they compare themselves with assumed lives of others. This can lower their self-esteem and trigger the occurrence of depressive symptoms.

Discussion

Depression is a sensitive issue to inspect and it could be different for each individual. However, researches by Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015), Hernandez & Smouse (2017), Donnelly (2017), and Uhlir (2016) which all study the connection of social media application usage and depression. By these researches, there are three major factors that can lead users to have depressive signs. The first is the amount of Instagram using time, next is the percent of strangers followed, and lastly social comparison. Those 3 variables are all connected together to make a development of depression of Instagram users.

The study from Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) has focused on the link between frequency of using Instagram and depressive symptoms. He found that other variables such as social comparison and the percent of strangers followed are unavoidable to look at the same time. He purposes the links between those 3 factors with the depressive symptom (See Appendix A). The method that he used to collect data is doing a survey of young adult participants whose age is in the range of 18 to 29 years old. He collected information about the amount of time they use the Instagram daily, a total number of strangers who follow them and strangers that they followed, measured feeling scale 1 out of 10 of 4 items from the Social Comparison Rating Scale. Those 4 items are confident, attractive, desirable and inferior in comparison to other users on Instagram. And last needed info on depressive symptoms which measured by using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D). The results from Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) study indicated that a significant moderator is strangers followed which associate between Instagram use and social comparison, but it has a slight effect on the association between Instagram use and depressive symptoms. Further, the research reveals that the more Instagram use is related to have a greater risk of depression only for users that have high levels of strangers followed. Still, there is a trend which shows that Instagram use and depressive symptoms can be indirectly associated when social comparison was positive at the highest levels of strangers followed. He interprets the results that more frequency of using Instagram had a slightly significant direct association with greater depressive symptoms. Also, more frequent Instagram use was not associated with social comparison, and more positive social comparison was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. About the number of strangers followed, it significantly controls the correlation of Instagram use with social comparison and it indirectly associated between Instagram use and depressive symptoms. His findings highlight the importance of how many strangers follows are, he said that it can lead to have a negative social comparison because users more likely to judge toward those they do not know and places improper attentions on their characteristics to explain behavior. However, seeing friends’ photos or posts might generate positive feelings because the users know how their friends actually live. Therefore, the conclusion from Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) is using Instagram has negative effects with well-being for those who follow a lot of strangers, but for those who follow fewer strangers on Instagram, it reflects positive associations with well-being.

Another research from Hernandez & Smouse (2017) also investigates the relationship of time spent on Instagram and depression symptoms. It explains that spending large amounts of time on Instagram and seeing other people have happier lives make them believe that life is not fair. The author said that the feeling is worsen when they follow strangers and Instagram has offered an opportunity for users to do it. Moreover, when users follow public figures who have privileged lives, it will lead them to make a correspondence bias, and unsettled negative comparison, finally they could develop low self-esteem issues, dissatisfaction, and depression. Next study from Donnelly (2017), it adds another explanation for Instagram use associates with depressive symptoms by using social rank theory. Users are competing against other users to reach online social media fame and a common goal. On Instagram which fame means having lots of followers and likes on photos. Social rank theory verifies that users will feel overcome or upset if they cannot succeed in reaching the goal. Sloman (2003) states that when people fail to compete others in social rank, it considers as a failure and it can cause mechanisms for suffering from defeat. In relation to Instagram users, they could feel vulnerable and depressed because they are not achieving the Instagram platform goal by not receiving considerably likes and other attentions as other users.
Lastly, one more interesting research which similar to the research by Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015). Uhlir (2016) has studied the correlation between social media time and depressive symptoms. His mediation about relationships between variables are some different from Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) by adding Positive self-presentation by others as a variable (See Appendix B). Although, he did not purposeful focus on Instagram the result of his research is interesting. He discusses that spending time on social media has linked to depression which mediated by social comparison. As well as, observing other users’ self-enhancing posts frequently on social media is often to have a social comparison-mediated and positive relationship to depression. Still, levels of favorable self-presentation of users are expected to be indirectly correlated with depression. He concluded that social media still can be good for users who have self-affirming purposes, but it will be unhealthy to use it for social comparison.

Conclusion

            Social network applications become a new medium for people in this digital age to communicate and stay connected with other people whether friends or strangers. Most of social applications have offer interactive features such as “like”, “comment” or “follow” which are drawing attention for most teens and young adults. Especially, Instagram which has millions of users around the world and is one of the most popular among other social media apps (Wade, 2018). Instagram is a photo-based app with unique features that provoke users to have some kind of behaviors which may lead to develop depressive symptoms. From many social media or Instagram related studies, it could interpret that there are 3 major factors which are Instagram using time, percent of strangers followed, and social comparison. Those factors are the effects from their motives of using Instagram which 2 directly impacted motives are surveillance/knowledge, and coolness. However, those 3 depression provoked factors are connected together to make users have depression and it might depend on how the users use the Instagram as well. Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015) concludes that the users who have a higher risk to develop depression are those who spend a lot of time on Instagram, they follow a lot of stranger accounts to compare themselves with strangers and have a negative feeling toward strangers’ posts. All in all, Instagram is only a tool for online users to be used for earning popularity and connecting with other users. The application itself does not lead users to have depression but the way that the users use the application could contribute depressive symptoms. Still, more studies and research are needed to analyse the link between social media application and depression deeply because depression is a sensitive issue.

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Appendix A

The diagram shows conditional associations between Instagram use and social comparison at different levels of strangers followed by Lup, Trub & Rosenthal (2015).

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix B

The diagram shows associations and relationships between variables by Uhlir (2016).

 

 


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