Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This paper explores the concept of online identity deception and the impact of this behaviour in the environment of social media, especially Instagram. Identity deception is explored in the context of early Usenet Newsgroups, Online Role-Playing Games as well as social media. The motivations for Instagram use are discussed and the implications of these motivations are assessed, demonstrating that behaviour of identity deception within social media can have negative impacts for the viewing community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concept of online identity is complex and\ninherently somewhat fictitious. The phenomenon of identity deception runs\nrampant in online communities with users flocking to take on new or at least\nmore intriguing identities. Users are often motivated by narcissistic feelings,\nreferring to a high opinion of one\u2019s self and belief that others are deeply\ninvested in what you have to show. This leads them to curate their highly\nsensationalized portfolio to of content, meaning an enhanced perspective will\nbe displayed of the user\u2019s life. This behaviour is often seen as negative due\nto the implications of the word deception. However, identity deception can\noften be used as a form of escapism, particularly online. The ability to\ncontrol how they are seen online is hugely alluring to all types of people\nalthough, this deception does have the ability to significantly impact others\nnegatively when it comes to presenting a sensationalized or enhanced image of\neveryday life. This warped presentation of one\u2019s life and self-image is\nparticularly relevant to the users of Instagram. The unrealistic nature of\nInstagram posts has created a culture of identity deception, whereby users\nsensationalize their reality creating feelings of inadequacy most often related\nto self-image in the broader community of millennial Instagram users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its inception\nthe internet has encouraged a certain level of deception regarding how a person\npresents their identity. From message boards and dating sites to social media\nand online games, a user can exercise a level of control over what other people\nsee that is simply not possible in the real world. The heavily curated\nrepresentation of one\u2019s self that is possible online does not necessarily have\nto be based in reality at all (Donath, 1999; Turkle, 1997). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An interesting early\nexample of identity representation within the digital world, explored by Donath\n(1999) is Usenet newsgroups, which effectively functioned as digital bulletin\nboards. Despite this early technology\u2019s simplicity, ways to represent one\u2019s\nidentity quickly began to establish themselves. The primary examples were a\nuser\u2019s email and \u201csignature\u201d (used as a sign off at the end of a post), the\nemail addresses often attempting to be funny and entertain other users.\nAlthough this example does not necessarily demonstrate an attempt to\nsensationalize a user\u2019s identity, it does show how easy and natural it became\nto create a new identity on the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another early\ncommunity that quickly developed as the internet began to establish itself was\nthe online gaming community. These users make use of multiplayer games to\ninteract as avatars often customized by the user. These groups saw a huge\nadvancement in the world of online community allowing interactions much more\nclosely related to the real world, within a three dimensional simulation, with\na level of personalization never before seen (Turkle, 1997). Role playing games\nbegan as smaller group activities undertaken in person on a table top. The most\nwell-known example being Dungeons and Dragons, where players design a character\nto play as, choosing their look, abilities as well as other traits. This\nconcept was brought to the online world, with games such as World of Warcraft\nallowing players to create an avatar and build their own community, socializing\nand creating personal connections (Turkle, 1997). These games effectively\nrequire a certain level of identity deception. Through the creation of the\navatar, the player is expected to play out the game as though they really were\nthis character. The example of online role-playing games is perhaps the most\nextreme case of identity deception online, due simply to the level of\ninteractivity and customization possible. The negative impacts of this deception\ntend to be minimal and in fact the effects are usually overall positive,\nallowing players an escape from their often unfulfilling lives (Turkle, 1997).\nThis is a stark contrast to the identity deception seen in Usenet groups, the\nobvious distinction being that the deception in role playing game\u2019s is expected\nand encouraged. Despite this difference both of these examples were key points\nfor the development of the concept of online community we see today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The largest and most obvious\nplatform for developing online communities in the modern day is social media. A\nclearly distinct and massive evolution from the early Usenet groups discussed\nearlier. Social media use has become a staple of the modern world and an\nessential part of daily life for the majority of the first world with a 64 percent\nincrease in its use being seen between 2005 and 2013 (Tsikerdekis and Zeadally,\n2014). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the clear stand out social\nmedia platforms to emerge is Instagram. Making use of images as its primary\ncontent has seen great success and a huge community develop with Instagram\u2019s\nuser base growing by 150 million active users in the first 3 years since its\nlaunch (Statista, 2018). Although the use of images are a staple amongst most\nsocial media platforms, the requirement to use an image as the main content of\na post was not seen in the traditional social networking space until Instagram\nwas launched (Hu, Manikonda and Kambhampati, 2014). This image based\npresentation of social media identity led to a sense of intimacy not quite\nachieved by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Instagram heavily encouraged the\nposting of selfies, which were shared far less regularly on other platforms (Deeb-Swihart, Polack, Gilbert and Essa, 2017). These\nmore intimate images such as selfies, pictures with friends and at social\nevents now make up a majority of content posted to Instagram. All of which\nwould have most likely remained private or shared with close friends and family\nonly before the advent of Instagram. The opportunity to view and feel a part of\nthese events has encouraged a sense of connectedness to a user even if they are\na complete stranger (Hu, Manikonda and Kambhampati, 2014). Research conducted\nby Pittman and Reich (2016), found that viewing social media posts containing\nimages of the poster and\/or the people around them actually helped to reduce\nfeelings of loneliness when compared to text based posts proving just how\nimpactful Instagram\u2019s social networking model is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The use of images on Instagram\nhas created an interesting form of identity deception within the Instagram community.\nUnlike the role playing game example discussed earlier, the deception\nundertaken by Instagram users is not one of impersonation, but rather\nsensationalism finding users displaying an altered perspective of their reality.\nThe opportunity for a so called everyday person to reach a potentially massive audience\nhas proven to be hugely alluring to Instagram\u2019s users whom curate an enhanced\npresentation of themselves. Erdo\u011fmu\u015f, Arslan, Hepdo\u011fan and \u00d6zbay (2018), discuss\nthe potential link between self-esteem and sensationalising of oneself, finding\nthat there does seem to be a link between lower self-esteem and more\ninauthentic posts. Their study finding that users with lower self-esteem would\nattempt to curate perfected representation of their identity. This behaviour is\nunderstandable due to the nature of social media and the constant feed of\ncontent from others\u2019 lives, which can warp a user\u2019s sense of self making them\nfeel as though this highlight feed is what everyday life should be like. The\nInstagram app itself offers multitudes of options to edit and \u201cperfect\u201d an\nimage intended to be posted. The more\nrecent addition of filters that transform user\u2019s faces in aesthetically\npleasing manner along with various other more standard editing tools such as\ncontrast adjustment and filters all help to effectively encourage a certain\nlevel of deception and sensationalism of the user\u2019s real world and self-image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Instagram does seem to\nencourage this behaviour of portraying an inauthentic self-image to a certain\ndegree, the motivations for doing so should not be ignored. Studies into the\nprimary motivations of Instagram use can be categorised broadly into four\ncategories; \u201csurveillance\u201d (keeping up with what other users are doing), \u201cdocumentation\u201d\n(posting activities and major events), \u201ccoolness\u201d (posts designed to impress\nothers) and \u201ccreativity\u201d (posts focusing on the users creative skills). All\nfour of these category types can be linked to a somewhat disingenuous and even\nnarcissistic motive (Lee, Lee, Moon and Sung, 2015; Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). The\nmotivation to present a user\u2019s creativity is seemingly the most positive motive\nof the four. However it is often associated with creative editing, again\ndisplaying an altered state of reality. These edits are often more obvious, and\nusually are not intended to deceive the viewer but rather entertain and create\na sense of intrigue (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The motive of \u201csurveillance\u201d as\none of the primary motivations when using Instagram is a good indication of\njust how much social comparison goes on when using the platform. Often you can\neasily find masses of information about a user by scrolling through their\nprofile and naturally some comparisons will be made. There is also a\nnarcissistic element to the surveillance motivation as found by Sheldon and\nBryant (2016). Narcissistic users make use of the shallow level of engagement\nby keeping up with other users and liking and commenting on their posts often\nin the hope it will lead to other users seeing their activity and think of them\nmore positively as a consequence. This narcissistic motivation along with the\ninherent social comparison are also major factors in the \u201ccoolness\u201d motive\nsince users who were motivated to post to make themselves look more \u201ccool\u201d are\ninherently narcissistic in their motivations. The ability to heavily edit and\nalter the images are a huge selling point for those who want to seem \u201ccool\u201d.\nThe constant social comparison also compounds this need to look better in the\neyes of other users, and the feeling of a lesser self-image makes users feel\nthe need to compensate (Lee, Lee, Moon and Sung, 2015; Sheldon and Bryant,\n2016; Lup, Trub and Rosenthal, 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cdocumentation\u201d motive does\nalso have a somewhat narcissistic element, in that these posts are often made\nunder the belief that other users will be very excited to see them. Another\nmajor element to this motive seems to be a user\u2019s frequency of social activity\ne.g. travel or events, this documentation of social events is seen often in\nmillennial users in college or university. This shows a somewhat more positive\nside of Instagram use. However, the affect this can have on others cannot be\nunderestimated with an often sensationalized version of events making it to\nInstagram. This sensationalized image in combination with the inherent social\ncomparison of social media can have a hugely negative affect on other user\u2019s\nself-image thus potentially leading them to a desire to compensate and look\n\u201ccool\u201d by posting unrealistic and heavily edited images (Sheldon and Bryant,\n2016). This is a vicious cycle that leads to a more and more unrealistic image\nof reality being shown through the medium of Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sensationalist image created\nfrom the desire to look \u201ccool\u201d on Instagram can effect users in largely\ndetrimental ways. Surveillance of users on Instagram has been shown to create\nfeelings of envy, this behaviour of comparison to one\u2019s own life can greatly\ncontribute to feelings of depression (Yang, 2016). This is particularly true\nfor those who largely follow strangers and are unable to see how the reality of\nthose strangers\u2019 everyday lives does not match the fantasy being presented.\nLup, Trub and Rosenthal (2015), found that the more strangers a user followed\nthere was a direct observable link with feelings of depression when viewing\ntheir posts. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by reinforcing already\nexistent negative feelings through negative social comparison. This is\nparticularly worrying for younger users who find it harder to distinguish or\nfilter out this sensationalized content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conclusion can be made that people have a natural tendency to want to skew the perception of their reality when presenting it online. Whether it be as a form of escapism, to purposely deceive others for their own gain or to simply ease their insecurities and attempt to boost the ego. The ramifications of this however can be seen as quite damaging to the wider audience, particularly in social media, where the younger generations are getting involved at a very impressionable age and growing up thinking this is what their life can and will be like. It can also be seen that the general user base, of Instagram specifically, use the platform largely for self-serving purposes and these motivations often lead to disappointment and feelings of depression. It can be seen that the concept of identity deception does not have to have a negative implication and in some cases can actually provide some benefit to those needing an escape from their everyday life. However in the context of social media and Instagram predominantly, this phenomenon is quite worrying for those glued to their screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deeb-Swihart, J.,\nPolack, C., Gilbert, E., & Essa, I. (2017). Selfie-presentation in everyday\nlife: A large-scale characterization of selfie contexts on instagram. In Eleventh\nInternational AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donath, J. (1999). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. In P.\nKollock, & M. A. Smith (Eds.), Communities\nin Cyberspace<\/em> (pp. 29-59). New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Erdo\u011fmu\u015f, Y., Arslan, D., Hepdo\u011fan, D., & \u00d6zbay, Y. (2018). Does\nSelf-Esteem Predict the Authenticity of Self-Presentation on Instagram?.\nEDITORIAL BOARD, 11. Retrieved from https:\/\/kuupj.ku.edu.tr\/downloads\/KUUPJ_6.pdf#page=15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hu, Y., Manikonda, L., & Kambhampati, S. (2014, June). What We\nInstagram: A First Analysis of Instagram Photo Content and User Types.\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.aaai.org\/ocs\/index.php\/ICWSM\/ICWSM14\/paper\/viewFile\/8118\/8087.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, E., Lee, J., Moon, J. and Sung, Y. (2015). Pictures Speak Louder\nthan Words: Motivations for Using Instagram. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking<\/em>, 18(9),\npp.552-556.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lup, K., Trub, L. and Rosenthal, L. (2015). Instagram #Instasad?:\nExploring Associations Among Instagram Use, Depressive Symptoms, Negative\nSocial Comparison, and Strangers Followed. Cyberpsychology,\nBehavior, and Social Networking<\/em>, 18(5), pp.247-252.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pittman, M. and Reich, B. (2016). Social media and loneliness: Why an\nInstagram picture may be worth more than a thousand Twitter words. Computers in Human Behavior<\/em>, 62,\npp.155-167.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheldon, P. and Bryant, K. (2016). Instagram: Motives for its use and\nrelationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computers in Human Behavior<\/em>, 58, pp.89-97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statista | Instagram: active users 2018. (2018). Retrieved from\nhttps:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/253577\/number-of-monthly-active-instagram-users\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tsikerdekis, M. and Zeadally, S. (2014). Online deception in social\nmedia. Communications of the ACM,<\/em>\n57(9), pp.72-80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkle, S. (1997). Constructions and Reconstructions of Self in Virtual\nReality. In S. Kiesler (Ed.), Culture of\nthe Internet<\/em>. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yang, C. (2016). Instagram Use, Loneliness, and Social Comparison Orientation: Interact and Browse on Social Media, But Don’t Compare. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking<\/em>, 19(12), pp.703-708.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aidan Jackson-Taylor Curtin University Abstract This paper explores the concept of online identity deception and the impact of this behaviour in the environment of social media, especially Instagram. Identity deception is explored in the context of early Usenet Newsgroups, Online Role-Playing Games as well as social media. The motivations for Instagram use are discussed and… Continue reading The Reality of Online Identity: Millennial use of Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Open\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}