This paper examines the so-called “fluidity” of an online identity and how this idea is challenged through algorithms, specifically on the social media platform, TikTok. It looks at how Influencers shape their online identities to fit a certain audience as well as their impact on young people and social comparison. Using Australian businesswoman Anna Paul, and Wellness creator, Alpha (name anonymous) as examples, this paper examines how an online persona can be strategically shaped in a way that in increases engagement, as well as how this can impact the identities of their viewers. This article deeply evaluates the harms of social comparison among young people, critically analysing how the development personal identities is affected.

The online world has become highly relied on over the past decade, and acts as a way for individuals to socialise, entertain and even generate an income. The way in which a person portrays themselves online is arguably more significant than a real-life identity in this digital world we live in. Identity refers to an individual’s personal context, impacted by aspects such as culture, behaviour and values. Traditionally, identity is something that is specific to one person’s own experiences; however, through social media and the online world, identity is in someways seen as fluid (Le Mesurier, 2021). The media gives users the freedom to shape their experience, as well as portray themselves in any desired way; however, this fluidity can also have negative impacts on authentic and real-life identities. The modern social media platform, tiktok, has the ability to redefine and alter and individual’s identity through aspects such as influencer culture, social comparison and addiction through strategic algorithms.

Since the rise of social media, many theorists are intrigued by the meaning of “identity” and how users are offered the freedom to perceive themselves in any way they wish. Through the ability to construct one’s own identity, users can build and alter their online persona to strategically fit a specific audience (Tewatia & Majumdar, 2022). TikTok is a platform used for communication, entertainment and creativity. Many users create content to engage a wider audience beyond their immediate circle of followers, and this is motivated by the large number of users who have successfully gained a high following and are now labelled as “Influencers” (Haenlein et al., 2020). Influencers are said to be individuals who portray themselves online in a way that attracts a specific audience, focussing their content on a certain theme for example, beauty, sport or wellbeing (Tewatia & Majumdar, 2022).

Many individual users and businesses view TikTok as a tool to promote themselves acting as a sort of marketing scheme. Australian Influencer and business owner, Anna Paul has recently had many allegations regarding her altered online identity and artificial persona. Paul has been exposed by her ex-sister-in-law, Mikaela Testa, for masking herself as someone who grew up “broke” but is now an authentic, young, body-positive Businesswoman (Pasricha, 2025). Anna Paul’s following is mainly young women and girls who are inspired by her “story”, therefore they are easily manipulated into engaging with her content although it is inauthentic. Paul’s false identity has now been seen as a hoax to increase the engagement on her social media as well as with her skin care brand, Paullie. This is a prime example of how identity is fluid and can be shaped online to fit the interests of a particular audience, in Anna Paul’s case, naïve young girls who will fall for her malicious marketing schemes (Pasricha, 2025).

Not only does this lure Paul’s audience into buying products from Paullie, but it also normalises influencer culture among the young demographic of viewers. There is a large number of children and teenagers on TikTok, and it is not uncommon to stumble across a user in their youth posting content with the goal of becoming an influencer (Tewatia & Majumdar, 2022). Users as young as primary school age are learning how to shape their identity to one that will lead them to increased involvement online. Although social media platforms have an age limit, it is frequently disregarded, particularly on tiktok which has high demographic of young children, forcing them into adulthood way too early. Children, nowadays, no longer aspire to be astronauts or nurses when they grow up. Instead, they see other children plastered online earning thousands of dollars – the online reality of child influencers, but what really goes on behind the scenes? Child Influencers have a lack of protection online and growing up in the public eye is detrimental to their identity development (Pedersen & Aspevig, 2018). Many young users on TikTok are victims of cyberbullying and online harassment, which has major impacts on their social and personal identities. Influencing is a popular way for TikTok creators to form a strong platform of fans which can result in success for businesses or personal online growth; however, social media’s allowance of a fluid identity can manipulate users into falling for insincere marketing schemes or believing a false lifestyle, creating unrealistic standards. 

The expansion of social media has many impacts on the development of identity, one being social comparison. In this day and age, an online identity is deemed highly important, and judgements of individuals are often made based on their online presence. Social comparison is a concept that influences individuals to mirror another’s identity, stripping away a sense of self-development and independence (Yang et al., 2018). Yang et al. (2018) states that social-comparison comes in two forms – judgemental and non-judgemental. Although social comparison can be non-judgemental and assist in the development of identity, it is common for users to compare themselves negatively to other creators based on their attractiveness, popularity or lifestyle (Yang et al., 2018). Due to the fluidity of an online identity, content seen in the media is often unrealistic and “staged” for popularity (Le Mesurier, 2021).  Auf et al. (2023) conducts an experiment examining the relationship between TikTok and the social comparison of body image (Auf et al., 2023). Body image is a common insecurity among young people, and due to Gen-Z dominating TikTok, the social issue of body image comparison is heightened. Auf et al. (2023) found that there as a significant correlation between those on TikTok and those with a negative body image (Auf et al., 2023). This suggests that TikTok users frequently compare themselves to other creators, which therefore has an impact on how they view themselves, forming destructive insecurities. An individual’s personal identity is impacted dramatically when they are comparing themselves to another; however, the online fluidity of identity must continuously be addressed (Le Mesurier, 2021; Yang et al., 2018). As mentioned previously, online identity is malleable, allowing creators to shape the way they’re viewed to fit a certain audience, creating inauthenticity. Wellness Influencer, Alpha [name anonymous] has been said to lure in her audience through an artificial reality and “fake” story. The online fluidity of identity has permitted unethical behaviour , for example, she had lied about suffering from a terminal illness gave ger a platform of compassionate, loyal and supportive followers, resulting in the posting of content about her inauthentic recovery journey (Bahar & Hasan, 2024). Alpha has since written an award-winning book and created a popular healthy eating app. Her false online identity has given her a platform to success despite her unmorally correct route to fame (Bahar & Hasan, 2024). This has created an unrealistic standard for those who are actually suffering or recovering from a terminal illness and therefore triggers a severe sense of social comparison (Yang et al., 2018). Using Alpha as an example, it is evident that the flexibility of an online identity gives users an excessive amount of freedom; however, this can be harmful for audiences due to social comparison. The falsification of one individual’s identity could be the destruction of another’s.

TikTok’s popularity quickly sparked during the COVID-19 period and is now said to be the most addictive social media platform. While individuals were kept in their houses, TikTok gained masses of traction, with users socialising, entertaining and creating responsive content, bonding over the relatable ordeal of the pandemic. The app’s user demographic mainly consists of those aged from thirteen to twenty-eight, also known as, Gen-Z (Ionescu & Licu, 2023). TikTok features short videos, averaging at about fifteen seconds, meaning that users are not required to keep a large attention span as engagement is maintained through a quick change in content, which is another contributing factor as to why the demographic of the app is mainly young peoples. As an entertainment platform, there is no limit to how much content can be watched, as opposed to a platform such as Netflix, where the film or episode will be complete after a certain amount of time (Qin et al., 2022). The addictive mechanism of scrolling through entertaining content gives users a lack of self-discipline as there is no “end” to the process, and this is triggered by TikTok’s advanced algorithms. A user’s experience is based around the text in which that engage with, meaning what they like, save or repost will shape the rest of the content on their “For You Page” (Ionescu & Licu, 2023; Qin et al., 2022). This contradicts the idea that the online world is fluid and malleable, which also ties into online identities. The user can only access certain content as the algorithms limit them from seeing new ideas, therefore restricting them from expanding perspectives (Le Mesurier, 2021). This echo chamber only allows users to access information within their own viewpoints, enforcing structured and restricted identity development. As well as emphasizing a fixed identity, the algorithms provide users with content that is more likely to captivate them, aligning with their behaviours on the platform and therefore triggering potential addiction (Qin et al., 2022). The addiction stems from a sense of belonging for the user, where the algorithms strategically work to provide users with likeminded content, profile and creators. Ionescu and Licu (2023) conducted an experiment where they found that the TikTok algorithms act as a “gatekeeper” into forming a fluid and personalized online identity (Ionescu & Licu, 2023). The participants of this experiment were averaging at the age of eighteen, which suggests that a sense of self-perceived identity is still yet to be fully developed and emphasizes how the addiction of TikTok can be extremely harmful on young minds (Qin et al., 2022). As discussed above, the naïve minds of young people mean a lack in self-discipline implying that they are easily absorbed and likely to become addicted. Although the development of an online identity allows room for personalization, the algorithms on platforms such as TikTok structure a user’s experience dramatically, shaping their content exposure to their behaviours on the app. While this means that they are seeing content they are likely interested in, exposure to alternative perspectives is limited, therefore structuring online experience and identity strategically.

The newly popular social media and entertainment platform, TikTok, has the ability to alter, structure and re-define one’s online identity all at once through aspects such as influencer culture, the harms of social comparison and the addictive nature of algorithms. Many believe that the online fluidity of identity is a perk to TikTok; however, it can lead to inauthentic real-life identities where users create a false online persona for views (Haenlein et al., 2020). Despite its fluidity and personalisation, TikTok uses strategic algorithms to keep users engaged through tracking of their behaviours on the app (Ionescu & Licu, 2023). Prior to the rise of the online world, identity was seen as something that is unique to one individual, based on aspects such as culture, values and perspectives; however, it is now something that is malleable and custom-made due to social media profiling. The idea that one’s social media profile defines them is now heavily imbedded into society, therefore having extreme impacts on personal and social identities.

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