Identity and Online Advocacy

Instagram used as a tool by influencers to perform an “authentic” persona among users.

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different perspectives where Instagram influencers perform an “authentic” persona towards their own community. The argument is that influencers engage actively in the settlement and consolidation of their authentic persona among their followers on Instagram. This paper, therefore, argues that brands and influencers work together to build up marketing strategies and this gives a chance to the influencers to be truthful to their community while promoting a product. Influencers tend to work with brands who advocate for a good cause in order to enhance their authentic persona. The paper also elaborates on the effect of including followers in the daily lives of the influencers. This allows both parties to engage together and to develop a genuine relationship with each other. Another aspect that has been investigated in the paper is that influencers take part in online advocacy such as body positivity and #Nofilter movement to showcase their authentic persona.

Keywords: #Authenticpersona, #Instagraminfluencers, #Bodypositivity, #Nofilter, #Authenticity

Social media is omnipresent in our daily lives and allows individuals to share all kinds of information, building up online networks and communities. Instagram is an example of a social media platform and it is described as mainly being a platform for photo sharing (Humphrey, 2016). However, with time, Instagram took another direction and some changes occurred, as mentioned by Driel and Dumitrica (2020), “The rise of Web 2.0, characterized by ‘the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement” (p. 67). Taking this into context, it is evaluated that with time, Instagram became more than just sharing of photos, it became a tool used by influencers, marketers and other institutions to promote different purposes. Influencers are defined as opinion leaders, who have their specific communities and they usually create their own content online. For example, they can be a travel influencer where they share contents about travelling. Nevertheless, besides projecting unrealistic beauty standards or lifestyle, influencers perform their own type of self-presentation which result as being an “authentic persona”. According to Reade (2020), “Authenticity, then, has become understood not as an inherent quality, but rather part of a ‘performative ecology’. On social media, the performative nature of authenticity may be reflected in choices users make to appear ‘real’ to others” (p.537). The main focus of this paper is to show the influencers engaging actively in the settlement and consolidation of their authentic persona on Instagram. This paper will explore the different aspects where an influencer performs an authentic persona. First of all, being an “authentic” influencer is a strategy for marketing purposes, secondly, by exposing their daily lives and real self, influencers can build up an online community through active engagement and finally they perform their authentic persona by taking part in online advocacy.

Influencers are promoting brands and products while maintaining an authentic persona

Influencers work together with brands and other institutions to come up with marketing strategies and they are able to consolidate their authentic persona while promoting the products. To be more credible amongst their community, influencers make sure that the authenticity which will be projected will help themselves and the brand to make an impact among the followers. In other words, the more real the influencer seems to be, there are more chances for the consumers to develop a strong relationship with them (Reade, 2020). Instagram influencers act as stakeholders more specifically as the secondary stakeholders and they have an effect on the primary stakeholders which are the consumers (Enke & Borchers,2019). Authenticity can take different directions, it can be one exposing their real names, addressing or even sharing every detail of their daily life online. One common type of influencers who expose their “authentic” persona, would be beauty influencers. As mentioned by Driel and Dumitrica (2020), “beauty bloggers use selfies that ‘record the transition from a bare face – a “no make-up selfie” to a partial or ‘full face’ of make-up’” (p.69). By using Instagram as a tool, there is a whole construction of online self-representation. But as mentioned by Goffman (1959), “when the individual presents himself before others, his performance will tend to incorporate and exemplify the officially accredited values of the society, more so, in fact, than does his behaviour as a whole” (p.125). By analysing this statement, it is deduced that influencers are going against these, they are actually consolidating their performance by going against the values of society. Beauty influencers are now showing their bare face before promoting brands. Influencers have to calculate their strategy well when they are exposing their “authentic” persona to the public because if they write directly about a commercial product, their community can easily distinguish this action as not being authentic and may lose interest. To avoid this, Driel and Dumitrica (2020) state, “by creating original content, mixing information about a product (e.g., product placement disclosure) with emotional stories of their own relationship to it, and featuring only products that are a good fit with their online persona” (p.69).

Influencers are working with brands that advocate for authenticity

However, some brands come up with authentic purposes and destroy the unrealistic beauty standards hence allowing influencers to perform their “authentic” self via their community. There are several brands such as ModCloth, Asos, Aerie, Nike who advocates for the real self. These brands project authenticity, where authenticity is related to being genuine, truthful and original (Pöyry et al., 2019). Since the brands themselves are presented as being authentic, it will be easier for influencers to settle their “authentic” persona and this will contribute as being “real” to the public. This will provide the influencer with another opportunity to grow up their third space present on Instagram. Different influencers took part in promoting the different brands mentioned above. First of all, the influencer and plus-size model, Zack Miko is breaking all the unrealistic beauty standards and is advocating for body positivity for plus size men. One of his campaigns comprises being featured on the Iconic swim show, bringing awareness to his public, he is also performing his “authentic” persona online and is promoting the Iconic swimwear to his public. This example shows how there is a fading barrier between his offline and online identity. He is using the plus-size movement to consolidate his persona. Another example of an authentic brand is Levi’s.  Levi’s is known to promote authenticity to its consumers. With the help of various influencers around the world, Levi’s has been able to raise awareness pertaining to body positivity. Huma Qureshi is breaking all the stereotypes by promoting Levi’s and by performing her authentic persona on Instagram. She talks about body shapes and skin colours and relates these statements to her own story while recommending the brand to her public.

 Influencers are exposing their daily lives to settle their authentic persona

Influencers consolidate and settle their “authentic” persona by exposing their daily lives on Instagram. Like other media outlets, Instagram plays an essential role in showcasing what is the ideal body and it eventually influences the perception of individuals concerning body images (Knobloch-Westerwick & Romero, 2010). It has been noticed that both female and male have a lack of satisfaction due to comparison between body ideals (Knobloch-Westerwick & Romero, 2010). Nowadays, besides magazines or adverts, influencers play a crucial role in shaping the “ideal body”. By exposing their “raw” body on Instagram, influencers can perform their authentic self in a direct manner or in an artistic manner. As stated by Reade (2020), “trying to ‘fancy up’ posts were tied to notions of inauthenticity and fakeness, while leaving posts ‘as they are’ marked an authentic image of the self” (p.541). This can be resumed by exposing their bodies without any filters, using Instagram stories as mini vlogging videos and having a genuine talk about social topics and arising issues in society (Reade, 2020). Being an authentic influencer will have a direct and positive impact on their community, by posting unedited pictures including cellulite, stretch marks and blemishes bring more authenticity to the person as a whole. An example to illustrate an “authentic” persona exposing flaws would be the Instagram influencer and model Ashley Graham. Her Instagram page mostly displays a natural and raw body and her real self. In February, she posted a photo with stretch marks on her belly with the caption “same me. Few new”, this picture got around 1.5 million likes. She got a lot of positive comments and this shows that she could get the attention of her public and she succeeded in maintaining her online “authentic” persona. Another example to illustrate the raw body is the Instagram account of the artist Petra Collins. She performed her “authentic” persona by artistically exposing bodies, back in 2013 (Olszanowski, 2014). Olszanowski (2014) also states that “In a self-imaging practice, the artist is the object and the subject at the same time—a threat to the social order of image production and consumption” (p.84). While analysing the article, it is deduced that through her pictures, she wants to show women empowerment and feminism and by including the “real” body, she was more credible among her followers. Olszanowski (2014) says “Each of these women maintains a feminist self-imaging artistic practice constituting a complicated skill set that employs certain technical and aesthetic tactics to include the body, often in nude” (p.85). Besides describing being “raw” as exposing bodies and imperfection, it can also be described as being emotionally genuine towards the public. When influencers include bits of their personal lives by including their family and friends, their followers tend to see them as being an ordinary person and hence this provides the influencer as being more authentic (Reade,2020). This also develops a sense of closeness between them and develop a “real” bond. Furthermore, when influencers talk about arising issues such as mental health and health in general or voicing out their experiences about struggles they are facing in their daily lives, this develops their authentic persona because they are bringing awareness and they are encouraging their followers to talk about their own issues and this is, in turn, help them to get through different issues (Reade,2020).

Online advocacy contributes to consolidate the genuine persona of the influencer

Instagram influencers usually take part in online advocacy and this helps to consolidate their authentic persona because they advocate for good causes. Since influencers have their way of tackling different social issues, most of them usually take part in online movements. Throughout the years, body image is going beyond the initial image and is expanding to the construction of a body-positive image (Cohen et al., 2019). To build up and perform their “authentic” persona, the body positivity movement is one of the most popular among the influencers. According to Cohen et al (2019), ““Body positivity” is a growing social media trend that seeks to challenge dominant societal appearance ideals and promote acceptance and appreciation of all bodies and appearances” (p.47). By analysing this, the influencer reflects a positive self-representation. According to Lee-Won et al. (2014), “Positive self-presentation could also be viewed as behavioural manifestation of self-enhance behavioural motivation to enhance the positivity of self-views and public self-images to maintain a sense of self-worth and ‘‘maximize social approval and minimize social disapproval” (p.414). With the drastic increase of body positive content on Instagram, different influencers are taking a stand to make a difference by performing their “authentic” persona. Body positive movement as mentioned by Cohen et al. (2019) “aims to challenge the aforementioned narrow appearance ideals and instead represent a diverse array of bodies of different shapes, sizes, colours, features, and abilities, with the presumed aim of fostering body acceptance and appreciation” (p.1548). For example, Taylor Giavasis, a body-positive influencer has set up an Instagram page allowing men and women to express themselves through photos, videos and captions in relation to the body positivity movement. The Instagram page named “thenakediaries” was set up in 2015, it now comprises 250,000 followers, with 1591 posts where both men and women shared their imperfections, flaws and stories. Instagram is a powerful tool to allow the influencer to perform their “authentic” persona and by using hashtags a wider range of people can be reached. Hashtags such as #bodypositivity, #Bopo, #bodypositive are written in the posts posted by influencers with powerful captions as stated by Cohen et al. (2019), “‘it’s possible to love your belly rolls, it’s possible to have a favourite spot of cellulite’” (p.1548). The kind of photos posted by influencers to raise awareness is the before and after showcasing the “real” self (Cohen et al, 2019). Moreover, the concept of #Nofilter can be determined as a hybridisation from Eastern Buddhist principles and the western world such as Instagram. Bueton and Wallis (2019) mention “Eastern Buddhist principles of aesthetics reveal a minimalist beauty that appreciates shizen, natural difference; kanso, simplicity; and shibui, understatement” (p.391). Each principle stated results in the movement of #Nofilter are used by influencers to perform their “authentic” persona. “Wabi-sabi” is simply defined as the beauty one acquires while ageing and that all imperfections make that person unique (Bueton & Wallis, 2019). This results in bringing more authenticity to the influencer hence making him or her more credible towards the public.

In conclusion, Instagram acts as an essential tool in our daily lives and as well as in influencers’ lives. Influencers are engaging actively to settle and consolidate their authentic persona towards their followers. There are different aspects which have been discussed throughout the paper. Influencers are working together with marketers and brands by maintaining their authentic self. They are doing so by creating original content, by relating emotions and feelings to the products and they are also pairing with brands that advocate for authenticity. Using Instagram influencers as a marketing strategy can be beneficial for the brand or institution and the influencer. Additionally, influencers perform their authentic persona by including their followers in their daily lives by doing Instagram stories, exposing their imperfections and talking about social issues by bringing more awareness pertaining to different topics. Finally, online advocacy contributes to consolidate the authentic persona of the influencer. Different online movements such as body positivity and #Nofilter are being advocated by influencers hence contributing to a positive self-presentation amongst their community.

Reference list:

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Cohen, R., Fardouly, J., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2019). #BoPo on Instagram: An       experimental investigation of the effects of viewing body positive content on             young women’s mood and body image. New Media & Society, 21(7), 1546–1564.   https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819826530

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Driel, V.L., & Dumitrica, D. (2020). Selling brands while staying “Authentic”: The             professionalization of Instagram influencers. Convergence: The International             Journal of Research into New Media Technologies,27(1), 66–84.             https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520902136

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40 thoughts on “Instagram used as a tool by influencers to perform an “authentic” persona among users.

  1. Hi Lakshana,

    Thank you for this well written paper and i like the fact that it project a different approach of the world of influencers sating that there’s influencers that take their jobs seriously. However, how can someone really say that it is authentic or not? Because at the end of the day – the influencers are being rewarded for the advertisement. For me, an authentic influencer will post about literally anything and selfies are just not taken out of the blue, there’s the perfect lighting and the angle of the camera that plays a role in it, so how can someone really say that the product being advertise by the influencer with the perfect skin, is authentic ?

    1. Hello Shruti, I hope you are doing fine!
      I really appreciate that you you spared time to read my paper!
      I totally agree with you that at the end of the day influencers are getting a remuneration, but here I wanted to show that there are some influencers out there who are advocating to help out their followers. Being authentic can be described in many ways, as I’ve mentioned, by showing their followers their daily lives, taking time to bond with them, talking about different issues can result in authenticity and of course there is the whole part of online advocacy.
      However, the product being advertise must have a purpose. For example, let’s take a scenario where the influencer is advertising for an acne product, the influencer will have to make a balance between their own story in relation to the product and to keep up with the trends. For example, showing their face with acne, talking about their experience etc.. and merging all this with a well composed video or photo. All this together will help the influencer to perform their authentic persona towards the public.

  2. Hi Lakshana,

    I found your paper very interesting! Authenticity has definitely become a popular selling point for influencers and brands in recent years! It’s strange to think that influencers strategically construct this sense of authenticity to appear more genuine to their audience, but it’s true. Influencers who are ‘authentic’ appear more trustworthy so their followers are more likely to believe what they are saying and follow their product recommendations. In contrast, influencers who come across as highly curated and ‘fake’ are somewhat untrustworthy because it feels like they are trying too hard to impress you. I think this also makes people more aware and conscious of products that they are trying to sell, whereas they tend to be more naïve when ‘authentic’ influencers advertise products.

    I think this represents a significant shift from the past when people tended to follow influencers with “perfectly curated content” (Scott, 2020). These influencers often had highly extravagant, and not necessarily relatable, lifestyles. I’d love to hear your thoughts on why you think there has been a shift towards ‘imperfection’ and authenticity in recent years?

    I found it interesting when you discussed how influencers use details of their personal lives, like talking about their family and friends, to give the impression that they are ordinary people. Do you think this poses ethical issues when influencer parents use their children to make them seem more authentic to their followers?

    Thanks so much for sharing this article, it was a great read!

    If you have time, please check out my paper on Instagram and feminism! Here’s the link: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/28/instagram-celebrities-leading-a-new-wave-of-feminism/#comment-450

    Scott, E. (2020, January 9). Why Demonstrating Authenticity on Social Media is Important (& How We Do it at Sendible). Sendible. https://www.sendible.com/insights/authenticity-on-social-media

    1. Hello Rebekah, I hope you are doing fine!
      Thank you very much for reading my paper and I will surely take a look at your paper!

      Answering to your questions:
      why you think there has been a shift towards ‘imperfection’ and authenticity in recent years?

      With the emergence of social media platforms, there is constant change. Trends, advocacy, and communities are evolving at a high speed. I think that this shift happened because now more people are aware about authenticity and online advocacy. For a long time now, the media has always projected the unrealistic beauty standards, people has no platform to voice out their opinions about these. Instagram as a social platform has given the opportunity to make people know that “hey I’m just like you, I do have these imperfections also”. People who are on Instagram need fresh, genuine and true self influencers. They want to see a change and not to stay in the stigmatized society.

      Do you think this poses ethical issues when influencer parents use their children to make them seem more authentic to their followers?
      I do agree that some influencers use their children to make them seem more authentic. For example, the popular YouTuber faced severe backlash from fans.http://culture.affinitymagazine.us/family-vloggers-are-exploitative-and-must-be-stopped/
      Since family vlogging are getting more popular, I think that there must be a reinforcement for the laws also.

      Take care!

  3. Hi Lakshana,
    I really enjoyed reading your paper, it is a very informative paper.
    I did had a knowledge on Instagram influencers but didn’t know that they had a big impact in the community. Well, I must say that i agree with you where you mention that brands uses influencers to built up their market strategies. Here i want to add, two years ago there was an advert on TV, where there was the Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachan was using a face cream in the brand loreal and when I bought that face cream to apply on my face and i started getting pimples and all, basically watching this advertisement I apply that cream on my face and it turned out to be wrong for me. Here, I want to ask you, don’t you think that it’s a big turn off for people who purchase something because they follows some kinds of influencers?

    Enjoy you weekend!
    Regards,
    Tooshtee.G

    1. Hi Toushtee, I hope you are doing well!
      First of all thank you very much for sparing some time to read my paper!

      Responding to your question:
      Don’t you think that it’s a big turn off for people who purchase something because they follows some kinds of influencers?
      First of all the consumer has the power to decide what he or she wants to buy. Instagram and influencers ( or media) in general influence the buying power of the consumers. The aim of marketing a product is to sell it right? So I think it goes on both ways as the consumer has the power to buy but he or she is somehow influenced by influencers (marketing strategies).

  4. Greetings from Finland! I just yesterday submitted a Master’s thesis on a multimodal analysis of authenticity construction in influencer content on Instagram and was delighted to see this paper that touches on many facets I studied as well. I especially found the link of authenticity in connection with body positivity and social advocacy interesting. In my study, body positivity was a fairly major factor in authenticating content and I suggested it should be studied even further in connection with authenticity. It was nice to see this paper doing some work on that front! There’s a couple of sources here I must check!

    What do you think about the pressure between appearing authentic and true to one’s inner self in contrast to the pressure to produce content that is trendy and conforms to easily understood Instagram platform aesthetics and vernaculars?

    Best,

    Teemu

    1. Greetings from Mauritius! I hope you are doing fine!
      First of all, I am really happy that you spared some time to read my paper and I am pleased to hear that you found some interesting points.
      So answering to your question I would say that there is a pressure on both sides pertaining to appear authentic online and at the same time to produce relevant contents that will satisfy Instagram aesthetics and vernaculars. As I’ve mentioned in my paper, influencers have to make a balance while consolidating their authentic persona on Instagram, focusing on the marketing aspect, online movements and so on.
      For example, if there is an influencer whose purpose initially was to advocate for authenticity, I think he or she will have to produce unique piece of content to advocate and at the same time stay in line with the trends. Art photography is a great way to merge one’s inner self and the online persona because at first, instagram is a platform where visuals have a big impact right?

      Check out these links:
      https://www.instagram.com/mbrandphotography/
      https://www.instagram.com/mslovexo/
      https://www.instagram.com/makuna.matata/

      When an influencer is expressing and advocating for body positivity or authenticity, there will be pressures as who knows, maybe themselves they do not have much self confidence. This is where the community aspect of Instagram takes place. Being in a community and to share the same understandings, values and norms, this will help to decrease both pressures.
      I would be happy to hear more from you!

      Kind regards,
      Lakshana

  5. Hello Lakshana,
    It was very interesting to read your paper which was highly informative and you made a lot of strong arguments. It was insightful to read a paper where the topic of influencers is being tackled positively.
    You made an interesting argument concerning the authentic persona and the role influencers play in promoting brands or products. However, I have some reservations on that matter, you did mention that influencers were showing their face without makeup and then showing the transition but do you really believe that this is enough to portray identity? It was often seen that those ‘bare face’ selfies were actually edited and rare are those influencers who show their textured skin for example.
    I do believe that within the influencer community there is a lack of self acceptance and a constant need to fit in the social norm of beauty to gain more likes and followers and therefore, this has repercussions on their audience and themselves as well. What is your opinion on that?
    I do agree with your point that there is somewhat a growing number of influencers promoting body positivitybut, do you find this enough when it comes to the impact on the audience? and can this be seen as really authentic or mostly a marketing approach from brands in order to target a wider audience?
    On the overall, it was a pleasure reading your paper, I invite you to read and comment on mine which relates to the influencer community as well but with a different approach from yours. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/27/the-lifestyle-and-fashion-influencer-community-on-instagram-stimulates-portrayals-of-identities-by-adjusting-and-adapting-to-fake-ones/

    Awaiting for your response!

    1. Hi Yovan! I hope you are doing well!
      Thank you very much for reading my paper and I will surely take a look at your paper!

      Answering to your questions:
      Do you really believe that this is enough to portray identity?
      Of course not, only showing bare face is not enough. To construct an authentic online identity there are so much more that can be done. For example besides showing bare face or body imperfections, identity can also be constructed through building up meaningful relationships with the followers ( like I mentioned in my paper), though online communities and advocating.
      Talking about textured skin, there are now trends which shows unfiltered skin:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqxpIRGjrnA

      What is your opinion on that?
      It is true that there are some repercussions and this is what was always present at some point right? Media influenced people about the unrealistic beauty standards hence this has negatively impacted on many users. This is what I wanted to prove in my paper that now, there are no “rules” so as to fit in a specific beauty standard, influencers are making small steps to break all stereotypes ( such as Ashley Graham). Making the following aware that “hey I’m just like you” will consolidate the influencer’s authenticity.

      Do you find this enough when it comes to the impact on the audience? Can this be seen as really authentic or mostly a marketing approach from brands in order to target a wider audience?
      I firmly believe that small steps is better that no steps. This does impact the audience as they form part of whatever community they feel they belong to. I believe it is an authentic step as many unrealistic beauty standards are breaking down. In terms of marketing approach, i think it goes in a two way direction because there are brands who actually advocate for authenticity and there are influencers who uses authenticity to market certain brands.

      Take care!

      1. Hi Lakshana,

        First of all, thank you for your reply. You provided me with an insightful point of view on the different matters mentionned therefore, your arguments used to support your points were very interesting and convincing . I do understand your point on the matter of how media shaped identities and also how you explained the part about marketing and authenticity among influencers. Your replies to my questions helped in supporting your points made throughout your paper and also convinced me about the small positive changes within the influencer community and despite this change being slow it is still important to be acknowledged.

  6. Hi Lakshana,

    I really liked your paper and its flow. It was indeed very informative and interesting, even more, because influencers have become very popular on social media especially Instagram.
    Being an influencer is a new type of job and it is possible thanks to web 2.0 and the online communities. I think that influencers can only exist if the audience allows them to exist. What do you think about that?
    Overall it is a very good piece of work!
    Well done.
    Hope to hear from you soon.

    1. Hello Camille, I hope you are doing fine!
      First of all thank you very much for sparing time to read my paper!
      I totally agree that influencers can only exist if the audience allow them to exist. Initially the job of an influencer is to influence (in terms of lifestyle etc..) his or her audience! Influencers are used for marketing purposes, so the more followers is equal to greater impact concerning a brand.

      Take care!

  7. Hi Lakshana!

    This is a well-written paper! I love the rawness and realness of the paper and the relative topics that you have talked about, specially the #nofilter and the fact that Instagram influencers have started being and/or showing their authentic selves on various platforms. It is so true and nice, from the perspective of the laymen. To be honest, as frequent Instagram user, I find myself often questioning how real and authentic are influencers when they are only about brand promotion or living the “very best” and exquisite life. I question the realness of the content that they provide. However, should they show or talk about their lives; their losses, their weaknesses and show who they really are within, I am more likely to like and interact with their content due to the rawness. It is absolutely marvelous that you have found such a nice topic to write about, it is very much appreciated!

    Goodluck for your future papers and endeavours!
    Kheshini, <3

    1. Hello Kheshini, I hope you are doing fine!
      First of all thank you very much for sparing time to read my paper!
      I think when influencers talk and show insights of their daily lives make them to appear more authentic and of course their content creation also contribute to their authentic persona!

      Take care!

  8. Hey Lakshana,

    I read your paper and honestly, it was a great experience. Influencers nowadays are really making sure that their viewers can relate to them and thus build a trust relationship. And not only influencers, but also firms, like you mentioned Nike, are also promoting the authentic identity on social media platforms.
    How efficient do you think authentic self is on social media in comparison to famous instagram users such as slim models and actors? Do you think the promotion of authentic self, such as through brands, is strong enough to break the body image stereotypes that are created by social media?

    You could read my paper which talks about unrealistic body image and facial appearance on social media platforms. Here is the link:
    https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/26/unrealistic-body-image-and-facial-appearance-on-social-media/

    1. Hello Vejetaa!
      I hope you are doing fine
      I would like to thank you because you spared time to read my paper!
      Responding to your questions:
      -How efficient do you think authentic self is on social media in comparison to famous instagram users such as slim models and actors?
      Instagram is a platform where a different kinds of influencers are present. Being authentic (as I mentioned in my paper) does not only include bodies or bare face, it also include the fact that these influencers are sharing their private issues with their followers or talking about mental health issues for example. An influencer can be slim and still be authentic. For example, Kristen Bell, who is a famous actress, often talks about mental health issues
      Here is a recent article you can check out: https://www.romper.com/entertainment/kristen-bell-instagram-selfie-mental-health-reminder-message

      -Do you think the promotion of authentic self, such as through brands, is strong enough to break the body image stereotypes that are created by social media?
      I would say yes and no.
      Yes, because brands have a strong impact on consumers, and if the marketing strategy is well executed, a greater impact can be made in terms of advocacy. If brands themselves start to break down the unrealistic beauty standards, I really think that will help many people. Promoting body positivity by using all kinds of models, using different ethnicity and having a genuine purpose will definitely break stereotypes.

      No, because a lot more can be done. Thinking of brands is a thing, but which can really help as well, its the “trends”. For example, at some point on Instagram, a lot of influencers were getting lips fillers and with time this impacted on their followers who in turn did the same thing. Im sure that you heard about the Kylie Jenner Lips challenge, this trend had a huge impact all over the internet. So I think that influencers must come up with trends that promotes authentic self

      Take care!!

      1. Hey Lakshana,
        Thank you for your reply.
        I also think the second question I asked was rather debatable. Yes, a lot more can be done. Before, users, especially influencers and famous personalities, made sure they appear perfect on screen and on media. It seemed a taboo if an influencer made a mistake or have a defect. Nowadays, these issues are spoken out about, promoting authentic self. As you mentioned about Kylie Jenner, in my opinion, she was brave to come out about her plastic surgery. I used the word brave because this topic was seen as shameful before.
        I wish to know your opinion about plastic surgery and the opinions about it have changed over the past years.

        1. Hi Vejetaa!
          I hope you are doing well!

          Answering to your question:
          Plastic surgery is a sensible topic to talk about.
          In my opinion, plastic surgery can be a good thing as well as a bad thing. I believe that one have all the right to do whatever they want to do in order to make them feel better in their skin. I know that there are a lot of discussion concerning self acceptance and self love, but on the other side if plastic surgery can really help someone to eradicate a complex so why not? this will also give a boost of self confidence and help the person mentally. On the other side, I do consider plastic surgery as bad because some people do abuse on these kind of surgeries and they put their health at stake ( check this out: https://www.eonline.com/shows/botched) this can help you to have different perspectives on plastic surgery!

          Have a good Sunday! take care!

  9. Hey Lakshana,
    I had an amazing time reading your paper. The world of influencers is a little bit unknown to me and you provided me the chance to explore and discover it through your analysis and examples. Also, great job on choosing a topic that is growing day by day in this incessantly developing world which is influencers and promoting on social media platforms. However, as stated before, I am not really familiar with the influencers’ world and to be honest, neither a fan of them. The reason behind is the fakeness some often deploy to attract followers instead of actually ‘influencing.’ Do you think the fake influencers might, one day outgrow the real one thus instead of performing an authentic persona, promoting a fake life? And would you agree on the fact that anybody can become an influencer?

  10. Hello Lakshana,

    I really enjoyed your paper. Influencers are somewhat the emerging “marketing tools being used” to promote brands and products because of their popularity and ability to engage with people. Influencers have a certain power of their followers because they are able to promote a product in a way that you will eventually get tempted to look for the product and research more on your own. I noticed that in Mauritius, the word ‘influencer’ is used negatively. People seem to have trouble differentiating between an entertainer on instagram or social media in general and an actual influencer. Many people simply assume that someone with a large number of followers is an influencer. My question is how would you distinguish between an influencer and an entertainer on instagram?

  11. Hi Lakshana! Firstly, thank you for this awesome piece of work. The fact that we as Instagram users can relate to how influencers influence the users, it’s really nice that you came up with this work. The #nofilter is so true. There are so many fitness promoters that actually give out tips for their audiences.

    Influences are really showing the real ”normal”. I have seen so many local instagrammers with lots of followers who provide us with so many real contents!
    I like the flow, the consistency and the quantity of information you have added.
    Great job Lakshana.

    1. Hi Chitrakshi, thank you very much as you spared time to read my paper! Yes, I do agree that now many local influencers are producing unique and authentic contents!

      Take care!

  12. Hello Lakshana, I really enjoyed reading your paper. To be honest, I can sense my conference paper in total relation to that of yours haha. But you have produced it with an authentic approach.
    I have just ask my mum her opinions about displaying authenticity on social media platforms. She told me it is a huge and difficult step for her, because firstly she is conscious in being judged as she works a lot with the public. She is quite well-known in work area, and because of her charisma, some people would like to search for her on any media platforms xD. She is telling me that she has to put on makeup as she feel elegant, confident and elegant. I then asked her if she can post her photo without makeup, she said no, cause she feels that bared-face influencers/or authentic influencers actually do have a 'good' skin, that is with no scars. And that it is essential to look well groomed at work because you value professionalism, with minimal makeup.
    However, as a user of IG, I do think that portraying bare face/authentic self has a lot to do with aesthetics. I often notice that when influencers showing bare face photos, their hair is nicely done, or we see a good and aesthetic background. Is these images demonstrating authenticity? Cause for me, when i think of authenticity, its actually the real, raw life of those women, maybe an un-made bed or un-organized room.
    We barely see instagram feeds that are not aesthetic, but thats how social media is. I think it is important to keep that sense of being unauthentic at times, as it feels that one is revealing a lot, when thats not the case. Unauthentic may bring some sort of privacy, …. we choose what they need to see. What do you think lakshana?
    and yes, nicely written paper. You are very analytical in your approach. keep it up love!

    Kind regards,
    Mageswari Sreepaul

    1. Hello Mageswari! I hope you are doing fine!

      I really liked that you express your mother’s views also, because it is true that a lot of people still believe in the unrealistic beauty standards and stereotypes, it is not their fault because at some point this is what the media has always been projecting.

      Responding to you questions:
      – Instagram plays a lot with visuals and this was its initial purpose right? The thing here is to consolidate their authentic person by staying true to themselves and towards their public. Images plays a huge role in showcasing authenticity, I would say that images alone is not enough show the raw and flawed person, but still it is still impacting on the public. I do agree with your idea of authenticity, and there are a lot of influencers making this a reality on their Instagram. I know that on Instagram, it is important to project a nice feed and all, I do believe that creativity is limitless and influencers are advocating for authentic self by producing unique content (check this out: https://www.instagram.com/mbrandphotography/ and https://www.instagram.com/sheerahr/)

      -I do agree with you that being unauthentic may bring out some privacy in the personal life of the influencers. But let’s not forget that the purpose is to perform an authentic persona, now the question to ask ourselves is to which extend are the influencers projecting their true self right? What do you think?

      Hope to hear from you soon!
      Kind regards,
      Lakshana

      1. Hello Lakshana,

        I hope you are doing well and thank you for replying my query.

        Your point is valid when you affirmed the primary objective of Instagram (A visual platform). Also, it is impressive how you have narrowed the meaning of authenticity to a personal level (that it is much more than ‘real’ and ‘unfiltered’ images). Authenticity has much more to do with that. I thank you for enlightening me again about how these beautiful women are showcasing their thoughts, that is being confident, body scars etc., into images. It is clear now how the inner meaning of authenticity can be express through images, thus conveying a message. I am so glad that you have given me a brighter insight about intertwining creativity with authenticity, resulting to this artsy and aesthetic feed, in order to ‘voice out’ (or maybe ‘see’-out) their beliefs (be open about stigmas, body-positivity etc.).

        In respond to your question

        – The aspect of authenticity changed the game for most influencers online. Authenticity online is actually marketable. It is a form of strategy to get more follower and viewers, as their audience will be a deeper connection with them. By proving authenticity online (no makeup etc), proves to be as if “this influencer cares or listens to his/her followers well”, since it portrays a kind of closeness. It is as if you are with your best friend, there is no hiding or things to prove. Moreover, authenticity is defined in various ways online. It could be of the form of personal stories about past traumas of influencers, who wants to voice out this manner and cater for others with the same attached feelings. As you have rightly mentioned, authenticity is showing truthfulness towards themselves and to the public. Authenticity online helps a lot in online engagement. For instance, there are well-known influencers who expose hate comments into their stories to show their followers. This is a form of authenticity too, she did not dare to hide the hate comment or deleted the post. However, I would like you to give it a thought whether GOOD identity construction leads to authenticity?

        I appreciate that you have taken time off to respond to my query. Thanks Lakshana. Hope to hear from you soon.

        Best,
        Mageswari

  13. Hello Lakshana,
    I hope that you’re doing great.
    Firstly, good choice for your topic as in today’s world, Instagram now forms part of almost everyone’s lives!
    I really enjoyed reading your paper because I learned a lot of new terms and perspectives from it! You discussed influencers having to perform an “authentic” persona among users and I definitely agree with all the arguments brought forward because the fact that the “influencers” trend is now greatly present cannot be ignored. As you mentioned, influencers are now marketing themselves with the help of brands where they have the possibility to actually bring changes about certain subjects. The fact that you also mentioned the names of the different influencers bringing changes on Instagram is very helpful as we, the audience, will also be able to discover more about them.
    You did mention the body-positive influencer, Taylor Giavasis who uses her Instagram platform to actually showcase body positivity and while doing so the latter is also projecting her “authentic” persona that she decided to portray, and at the same time, her followers are also able to embrace their flaws rather than hiding them!!
    However, i do have a question to raise about this subject! How far do you think that these influencers are projecting their “true selves”? Very often people pretend to be someone online when in reality they’re not that person at all! Don’t you think that a lot of these influencers may be projecting unrealistic expectations? Do you really think that only posting pictures of different body types on Instagram will help in body positivity?
    Also, concerning the brands that promote these influencers, do you think that brands in some ways may be exploiting these influencers?
    Would love to learn more about your point of view on these!
    In general, I really enjoyed reading your paper and it was very well-written!
    Thanks for sharing this informative paper with us all!
    Take care and Stay Safe.

    1. Hello Rhoma! I hope you are doing well!
      First of all thank you very much for sparing some time to read my paper and wrote such a constructive comment!
      By answering your questions:
      1) How far do you think that these influencers are projecting their “true selves”?
      I do agree with you that people often pretend to be someone else, this is why I mentioned about “performing” an authentic persona and not “being” an authentic persona. At some point, as I’ve mentioned in my paper, in order to promote a brand, influencers perform an authentic self. I did some research and found about “ethics of authenticity”
      According to Wellman et al. (2020), “our study considers authenticity as the guiding ethical principle in influencer marketing. The principle of authenticity undergirds influencer decision-making throughout the sponsored content process as they consider how to generate income working with commercial brands while maintaining an intimate and trusted relationship with their audiences” (p.69). Therefore, it is concluded that it goes on a two way, sometimes influencers do project their true self and sometimes they perform it.
      Wellman,M. L., Stoldt, R., Tully, M., & Ekdale, B. (2020). Ethics of
      Authenticity: Social Media Influencers and the Production of Sponsored Content. Journal of Media
      Ethics, 35(2), 68-82, DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1736078

      2) Don’t you think that a lot of these influencers may be projecting unrealistic expectations?
      I do agree that a lot of influencers project unrealistic beauty standards and this can affect their followers and how they feel about themselves. This is why a lot of influencers are now showing their “raw” and “flawed” side and this is helping a lot of people within their community

      3) Do you really think that only posting pictures of different body types on Instagram will help in body positivity?
      Of course not. I know that visuals can have a big impact on individuals but it is not enough. This is why I mentioned about brands who advocates for authenticity. By expanding ways to promote body positivity, this will help to reach a greater audience.

      4) Do you think that brands in some ways may be exploiting these influencers?
      To some extent I would say yes, but in the context of authenticity I do not agree that brands are exploiting these influencers. The influencers choose with which brand they want to work with and if they are working with a brand which advocates for body positivity, I think this contribute to consolidate their authentic persona.

      I was happy to share all these point of views!
      Take care!

      1. Hello Lakshana!
        I hope that you’re doing well!
        Thanks a lot for this insightful reply! You did answer to all of my questions with strong arguments!
        And i do agree with your response except for question number 4!
        I do agree that influencers choose with which brands they want to work but I also do think that the authencity of the influencers changes as the influencers are at some extent “controlled” by the specific brand in the sense that they will have to post certain products just to promote the specific brand even though that some of the brands can be complete scammers.. thus this kind of situation may definitely lead to influencers being exploited by brands and directly impacting on the authentic persona that they want to showcase.
        I would love to have a reply from you as i’m very interested to learn more about your thoughts on this subject!
        Thanks again for your helpful response.
        Take care and Stay Safe!

        1. Hi Rhoma!
          I hope you are doing fine!
          I do agree with you that to some extent they are being controlled as let’s not forget about the marketing strategies that are implemented on instagram. There are some brands which have been backlash, for example Brandy Melville has faced allegations concerning racism and body shaming and there are still influencers promoting the brand. According to an article written by The Cut, the influencer, Alyssa Coscarelli said, “I just love their tanks and tees,” she wrote. “Though I know it’s kind of a [emoji of a trash can] brand.” ( the link of the article: https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/the-secret-shame-of-wearing-brandy-melville.html)
          This shows that influencers fail in performing their authentic self.

          Thank you again for commenting and sharing your thoughts!
          Take care

  14. Hello Lakshana,
    I hope that you’re doing great.
    Firstly, good choice for your topic as in today’s world, Instagram now forms part of almost everyone’s lives!
    I really enjoyed reading your paper because I learned a lot of new terms and perspectives from it! You discussed influencers having to perform an “authentic” persona among users and I definitely agree with all the arguments brought forward because the fact that the “influencers” trend is now greatly present cannot be ignored. As you mentioned, influencers are now marketing themselves with the help of brands where they have the possibility to actually bring changes about certain subjects. The fact that you also mentioned the names of the different influencers bringing changes on Instagram is very helpful as we, the audience, will also be able to discover more about them.
    You did mention the body-positive influencer, Taylor Giavasis who uses her Instagram platform to actually showcase body positivity and while doing so the latter is also projecting her “authentic” persona that she decided to portray, and at the same time, her followers are also able to embrace their flaws rather than hiding them!!
    However, i do have a question to raise about this subject! How far do you think that these influencers are projecting their “true selves”? Very often people pretend to be someone online when in reality they’re not that person at all! Don’t you think that a lot of these influencers may be projecting unrealistic expectations? Do you really think that only posting pictures of different body types on Instagram will help in body positivity?
    Also, concerning the brands that promote these influencers, do you think that brands in some ways may be exploiting these influencers?
    Would love to learn more about your point of view on these!
    In general, I really enjoyed reading your paper and it was very well-written!
    Thanks for sharing this informative paper with us all!
    Take care and Stay Safe.

  15. Hello Lakshana,
    I hope that you’re doing great.
    Firstly, good choice for your topic as in today’s world, Instagram now forms part of mostly everyone’s lives!
    I really enjoyed reading your paper because i learnt a lot of new terms and perspectives from it! You discussed about influencers having to perform an “authentic” persona among users and i definitely agree with all the arguments brought forward because the fact that the “influencers” trend is now greatly present cannot be ignored. As you mentioned, influencers are now marketing themselves with the help of brands where they have the possibility to actually bring changes about certain subjects. The fact that you also mentioned the names of the different influencers bringing changes on Instagram is very helpful as we, audience, will also be able to discover more about them.
    You did mention about the body-positive influencer, Taylor Giavasis who uses her Instagram platform to actually showcase body positivity and while doing so the latter is also projecting her “authentic” persona that she decided to portray, and at the same time her followers are also able to embrace their flaws rather than hiding them!!
    However, i do have a question to raise about this subject! How far do you think that these influencers are projecting their “true-selves”? Very often people pretend to be someone online when in reality they’re not that person at all! Don’t you think that a lot of these influencers may be projecting a unrealistic expections? Do you really think that only posting pictures of different body types on Instagram will help in body positivity?
    Also concerning the brands that promote these influencers, do you think that brands in some ways may be exploiting these influencers?
    Would love to learn more about your point of view on these!
    In general, i really enjoyed reading your paper and it was very well-written!
    Thanks for sharing this informative paper with us all!
    Take care and Stay Safe.

  16. Hello Lakshana,

    Your paper has an interesting topic and provides a lot of insightful information.
    What I find interesting is that you managed to talk about both men and women in your paper, which is nice because sometimes we tend to focus only on a specific gender. I do agree with the fact that more influencers are going towards promoting an ‘authentic persona’ to be in line with their true selves and also to help people in connecting with them more easily.

    You mentioned above that influencers are now ‘exposing their “raw” body on Instagram’ which is true, and much appreciated, there is an influencer @mikzazon, who is all about body positivity and acceptance, she shows her body without filters and often posts videos and beautiful messages to help her followers or community, to relate with her.
    Luckily, this is body positivity movement is not only taking place internationally but locally as well, take the adverts of Dove, in Mauritius, on many billboards, Dove showcases, influencers such as @makuna.matata, @joeannchavry or @alexandra_happymum (who are known for showing their true selves via their platforms) who have different body shapes, skin colour, height and so on.

    Do you think that Instagram is the only platform that can be a useful tool for influencers to showcase their ‘authentic’ persona or platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok or Twitter could also be used?

    Stay safe and take care.

    Do you think that influencers

    1. Hi Lakshana! Firstly, thank you for this awesome piece of work. The fact that we as Instagram users can relate to how influencers influence the users, it’s really nice that you came up with this work. The #nofilter is so true. There are so many fitness promoters that actually give out tips for their audiences.

    2. Hello Tatiana, I hope you are doing well
      Thank you very much for this constructive comment and I really appreciate that you mentioned about Mauritian influencers!
      I will surely check out @mikzazon also!

      To answer your question, I don’t think that instagram is the only platform that can actually be useful for influencers to perform their authentic persona.
      I chose Instagram because there are more people using Instagram and it is a more engaging platform compared to other platforms
      However, recently I saw an interesting trend on Tiktok where people were actually showing their real self without any filters
      Here is the link: https://www.tiktok.com/@solanathagreenfairy/video/6939909434906774789?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6947210597927011842&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0

      Another video I found on YouTube which is very interesting
      Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm4s1fl8-2U

      Here’s the link of a blogger which I really like on Facebook:
      https://www.facebook.com/bodyposipanda

      Take care.

  17. Hello Lakshana! Firstly I want to say that your article is interesting and informative. Specially the fact that Influencers have become the buzz on Instagram! Also in Mauritius we now see emerging influencers. For sure they have an impact on their followers and if one analyses it they are like mini celebrities. The thing is that they turn their passion into their profession by posting on Instagram. Also like you have mentioned they are active and promote positivity such as #Nofilter.But do you think that the Mauritian community later on will accept these influencers as professionals?

    1. Hello Nafeesah, I hope you are doing well!

      I know in my paper I’ve mentioned more about international influencers rather than Mauritian influencers.
      I really liked that you brought this point forward!
      I know in Mauritius, being an influencer is seen as a taboo subject.
      I had the opportunity to meet different influencers and all of them concluded the same thing:

      https://www.instagram.com/suh_est_la/
      https://www.instagram.com/jld.fit/
      https://www.instagram.com/adarshissocool/

      With emergence of media and according to official statistics in 2020, the average age of people using instagram in Mauritius range from 18 to 24
      Responding to your question, Yes! I think that Mauritian community will accept influencers as professionals.
      Most of them projects an authentic self and they work with brands which actually advocates for a good cause
      For example Coralie Makuna (https://www.instagram.com/makuna.matata/) works with brands like Dove to encourage body positivity and self acceptance

  18. Hi Bestie Lakshana! I hope you and your family are doing well during this difficult period of covid. I would like to thank you for your paper which is very informative and i was able to learn more about Instagram influencers. In a digital world where most people show the happy and perfect side on social media platforms, it can be seen that influencers are taking the big step forward and showing the imperfect or i must say the ‘human side’. I was able to learn how they are able to maintain and even improve their authentic persona through Instagram and the examples you used in your paper are really relevant.
    Do you think more famous influencers such as Kylie Jenner should also do the same?
    Overall it was a nicely written paper.

    1. Hello Vinanda, I hope you are doing fine!
      Thank you for taking the time to read my paper!

      I really liked the fact you mentioned about kylie Jenner and it is a good example to make a contrast about what I wrote in my paper
      Firstly, I do agree that famous influencers like kylie Jenner should project this authenticity about her followers. Let’s be honest here, when you go on to her instagram page, you will see the “perfect” and flawless person.

      But in 2020, she exposed her stretch marks and all her followers were so happy and they saw a nice change in the way she performed her authentic persona. I really think that step by step famous influencers must show their authentic self hence having a positive impact within their network!

      This is the link where you can check out an article where they talked about kylie Jenner:
      https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/kylie-jenner-praised-stretch-marks-on-instagram

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