Abstract: This paper discusses how people are encouraged to display/perform different versions of themselves online known as performance personalities. Social media has facilitated the change of how identity is perceived from static to multifaceted. This paper argues this by examining social media influencers, the ability to have multiple accounts on a singular platform and the modern-day issue of catfishing and begs the question, who is “real” online?  

Social media has evolved the way in which people associate with and create their identities. Today, identity is viewed as fluid and multifaceted as opposed to singular and structured as it used to be considered. Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, encourage users to perform certain identities, allowing people to have multiple versions of themselves to suit various needs and audiences. The notion of one’s sense of self has changed to be ever evolving based on one’s environments and surroundings. This is evident in terms of social media influencers and personal branding; identity has become monetised. The ability to have multiple profiles on one singular platform in addition to other platforms for different audiences further encourages people to have multiple versions of themselves. This paper will also discuss the negative results of fluid identities and many profiles, such as the modern issue of “catfishing”- lying about one’s identity for malice and personal gain.

The creation of Facebook in 2003 sparked the beginning of the social media age as we know it today (Chia et al., 2021). Instagram was officially released in 2010 and has since become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world with over 2 billion active monthly users (Chen, 2020), now also owned by Facebook. The platform has become the home to millions of micro and major influencers, creating content for their followers as their full-time job. These people are assigned a celebrity status without acquiring any talent other than their ability to attract attention from people (Abidin, 2018). They are paid by Instagram and various brands to promote products or and/or lifestyles that attract views from followers. Influencers are frequently used in marketing campaigns (Torbarina et al., 2020) as people view them as trustworthy sources as they are “relatable and real people”, unlike A-list celebrities such as pop stars and entertainers who seem so far out of reach. Influencers are able to turn viewer traffic on their content into money (Abidin, 2018), hence why brands are using them for promotional purposes.

To become an influencer is the dream for many young people today as, from an outsider’s perspective, they are paid generously for doing nothing but post content from their everyday life.  In some cases, this may be true, but many successful influencers today are adopting and performing a personality that will get them the most amount of engagement from followers. Identity is considered to be “constructed in contexts, similar to the idea of a situational self” (Jeffrey and Troman, 2011, p.487) meaning the way in which one constructs and performs their identity differs based on situations, audiences and surroundings. Some identities are rewarded with social power/influence and money, hence why so many people are trying to be something/someone of importance. As such, identity has become monetised; people are gaining a lot from being “themselves” online. Influencers perform certain aspects of themselves based on what will gain them more attention. Today, successful influencers on Instagram tend to post a lot of lifestyle content, including workouts, healthy eating, skin care, travel and more; but their real lives tend to be very different from the content they post online. Instagram influencer Jordan Bunker discusses his struggle between his online presence and his real life, stating “all isn’t how its perceived on Instagram” (Bunker, 2019, as cited in Bearne, 2019). Bunker promotes a glamourous lifestyle, wearing high fashion clothing and jewellery but states he still lives at home with his parents in a small bedroom, earning up to $30,000 a year. Bunker discusses how social media has impacted his mental health after being diagnosed with imposter syndrome. The need to be something or someone you are not is so strong for influencers that it takes a large toll on physical and mental health, just to be perceived in a certain way. 47% of influencers that took part in a survey stated that their job as an influencer had an effect on their mental health and 32% agreed that social media negatively impacted their body image (Leighton, 2019). Society has created an “ideal influencer” and platforms such as Instagram are reinforcing this through their algorithms, brand partnerships and discoverability. Instagram is highlighting ideal personalities and identities, influencing the rest of society to conform.

Brusseau (2019) discusses the idea that multiplicity and performance personalities are essential in life as you are surrounded by different people at different times. For example, he states he is a dad in the mornings, a university lecturer in the day and a husband in the night – “one face strapped on, then another and another” (Brusseau, 2019). You cannot act in one way for all situations and/or audiences, therefore your identity and personality must be fluid and ever evolving, “nearly schizophrenic” (Brusseau, 2019).  The idea that people have a singular structured identity is no longer valid and we are now “forced to answer the question about whether we are basically one person, or multiple” (Brusseau, 2019). Identity has always been a performance formed by complex interactions with the people around us, but social media allows us to extend ourselves and our multiplicity online (Reed, 2014). Instagram recognises this change in how people perform and associate with their identities by allowing singular users to have multiple accounts using the same basic details (Sorrel, 2021). Users can easily create sub accounts branching from their main accounts but reach a totally different audience. Commonly, people will have one account for their friends and family, another for their work or business and potentially a third for other purposes such as pets, hobbies or political agendas. Instagram acknowledges the fact that specific content is made for specific audiences. An employer or client doesn’t need or want to see images of a family dog, they want professional and relevant content. Self-presentation is constantly adjusted based on current realities and is considered part of an “information game” (Papacharissi. 2010, p. 305) where bits and pieces of one’s identity is released and uncovered online to assemble the person behind it.

Some people choose to create completely fake identities online, facilitated by Instagram’s multiple account policy. These may be for harmless purposes such as joining a virtual fantasy community; but others have agendas behind their false identities. Recently, a group of people have taken advantage of Instagram’s anonymity and multiple account policy to continue the work of an identity collectively known as “Anonymous”. Anonymous was originally started in 2003 by a group of “hackers and activists waging cyberwar against oppression and corruption” (Langlois, 2020, para 1). Their current goal is to take down Vladimir Putin and end the war in Ukraine. Because Instagram enables anonymity, this group is able to use their technology skills to fight in a war far from the battlefield, hidden behind their collective fake identity. The way in which this group conducts themselves online is entirely different to their real lives as they have adopted an online “alter-ego” for the safety of each individual involved.  

In the early days of the internet, the web was text based and not accompanied by as many visuals and images as are present today. This led to around 80% of participants on the web admitting to the fact that at some point they had adopted or presented a different form of themselves online, whether that be related to gender, race, religion or sexual orientation (Reed, 2014). The web was a space “open to identity play” (Reed, 2014), as it was considered a separate reality to the physical world. As social media became more prominent, it gave people, especially young people, the impression that identity was much more fluid and malleable than previously thought. Identity play seemed harmless at the time but has evolved to become quite a problem in the modern world. People’s identities are frequently being stolen and used for malicious purposes. Stealing someone else’s online identity has become known as catfishing, “a term which is defined as assuming another identity or projection into alterity” (Lucian-Nicu, 2014) for personal gain. The term catfish has become so common that movies and TV shows are imitating, recreating, and documenting the phenomenon and how people actually become “catfishes”. Its most common use today is for online dating. People will use images of someone else and construct a new identity in order to attract the desired partner/s. They will create multiple social media accounts to seem as real as possible to their victim, which is easy as social media encourages new accounts, regardless of their authenticity. Online relationships like this can last months, even years, and lead to people becoming emotionally and, in some cases, financially invested in the relationship only to discover that the person they have been speaking to is fake.

A recent example of a catfish on a major scale is the scandal of Anna Delvey, a fake German heiress who conned New York socialites into giving her hundreds of thousands of dollars. Anna Delvey, born Anna Sorokin, created a fake identity through social media which carried into the real world. Delvey utilised her online presence to lure people in, especially people from New York’s high society (Sales, 2022) and made them believe that she had millions of dollars in a trust fund from her father. Her name, origins, nationality and financial situation were all fabricated in the hopes of becoming part of the society and creating an art foundation under her new name. Delvey created and was performing the identity that the people around her wanted to see and believe in order to get what she wanted, facilitated by her social media presence. Having thousands of followers, famous friends and content from a lavish lifestyle helped her spin the fabrication so far that she was almost granted 25 million dollars from a hedge fund (Palmer, 2019) before she was arrested. “Online worlds provide rich grounds for experimentation and falsification with identity” (Reed, 2014) which Delvey used to her advantage.

Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, encourage users to perform certain aspects of their personal identity to attract and appeal to the desired audience. As a social media influencer, performing an identity is what the job is all about. The individuals must attract followers based on their content in order to bring in their income. If they lose user engagement, they lose brand deals and support from the platforms themselves, therefore they have external forces encouraging them to present themselves in a certain way. The ability to create multiple accounts on Instagram shows how the platform is moving with the times and understanding that people show different parts of themselves to different audiences. This encourages people to embrace their multiplicity and fluid identities. Accepting that identities are malleable and fluid is generally a positive movement. However, as with most things, a negative follows a positive. The term catfishing was created for those who choose to create or adopt a false identity, easily facilitated by social media’s lack of authenticity checks when accounts are created. In summary, Instagram encourages people to perform identities to suit various situations and audiences, whether it be for good or bad.

References:

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