ARTS2093. Analysis of Social Media Practice

Analysis of Social Media Practice






Student’s Name






Institutional Affiliation






Analysis of Social Media Practice






Introduction






Over recent times, a burgeoning focus on self-representation remains a phenomenon that has emerged with the intent of responding to the hypervisibility of people online. Among the emerging concepts in social media is that of porous authenticity or rather authentic self-branding, an ideal that revolves around the notion that disclosure of an individual's real inner self remains a vital prerequisite in a successful bid of self-branding. This audit, therefore, seeks to draw from the concept of porous authenticity in an effort directed towards exploring its applicability to an individual's self-representation of social media, arguing out that this remains one of the fundamental tools used in revealing how popularity may be acquired through several platforms. The audit equally contends that this concept may not be used to account for the manner in which people use the element of authenticity behind the scene with the intent of manipulating their followers into the through that their self-representation remains authentic. To conduct this evaluation, the study will draw from the five examples of porous authentic communications on social media in an effort established towards unraveling how this concept may be harnessed to promote self-representation on social media.






Social Media Practice






As digital technologies, as well as social media, revolves into influential and pervasive instruments in the daily lives of individuals, communication between an individual in this age increases, given the fact that it is not confined to any geographical barrier. Currently, it is easier to share much about an individual's life as well as record moments on different social media platforms that include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, an aspect that is regarded as beneficial in the promotion of an individual’s self-representation on media (Toffoletti & Thorpe, 2018). Given this, it is essential to establish that the concept of self-representation resulted from the mediation of social media and technology, revealing the essence of a digitalized and global society that enhances how individuals express and understand their roles within an online and offline community.






Porous Authentic Communications on Social Media






The element of pourous authenticity remains in play in one of the scandals that surrounded the person of Essena O’Neill, an Australian influencer aged 18-years-old. According to Aladin (2018), Essena O’Neill is alleged to have made a video that went viral announcing that she was soon quitting the industry while crying, reason-due to the dark side of social media as well as the pressures that came in life and required her to keep up with a façade in her brands. Essena O’Neill went further in recapturing her advertorials on Instagram that were initially paid for by her clients and made scathing comments on the struggles she faced in life that forced her to starve in order to have a bikini shape of body and the manner in which each of her posts earned her money at the expense of her health. O’Neill, as depicted in her post, went through a phase of depression despite some of the cheery selfies she had taken previously. These events pushed her to change her names on Instagram and other websites, an aspect that caused all the influencers as well as her followers to revoke her posts as face social media and not authentic life (Abidin, 2018). In an effort directed towards addressing this, she disavowed the element of influencer commerce, alleging that this was the end of her engagement with social media posts that were founded for the primary basis of monetization. However, another tab was revealed on her site that continued to sell products for her followers.






Another typical example is the life of Amalia Ulman. A typical look at Amalia Ulman's Instagram profile in 2014 revealed several truths regarding the element of a perfect life by showing healthy foods, luxury goods, and optimistic selfies against varied situations and backgrounds. At the time the influencer posted these pictures, it is alleged that she had generated a story regarding a young woman who escaped from their province back in the rural area in an effort directed towards finding fortunes in the city. However, the lady’s plan never bore any fruits, an aspect that forced her to give in to an excessive form of life. However, the lady resorted to the use of extreme diets and Yoga before undergoing breast surgery in an effort directed towards the creation of a new identity. Her idea in the play was to establish a story on social media. Back to Ulman, in 2014, she enacted her persona online and amassed over 65,000 followers on her Instagram site (Hall & Caton, 2017). However, facts have it that she created a fictitious self on social media before declaring her identity as an influencer operating on the title, "Excellences and Perfections." In her performances, it is alleged that the social media took a different twist, given the fact that a new medium within the contemporary art form was derived with the intent of focusing on the self-expression of a young girl in the internet age.






In yet another case, Jonathan Quiñonez, a 27-year-old citizen of Brussels, is alleged to have quit his job and went further into selling his car with the motive of traveling around the world. On his way, Quiñonez is established to have arrived in Cuba before getting in touch with his family, with this attributed to the challenging times. He is alleged to have begun the “@momiimfine campaign” in an effort directed towards updating his new locations with different photos (Xu & Armstrong, 2019). In each of the photos, Quiñonez held the same caption that reads, “MOM, I’M FINE” as provided below.






Figure 1. Quinionex Momiamfine Selfies






 






After uploading the pictures, Quinonez is alleged to have received over 15,000 followers on his Instagram page. He revealed that his mother being a Latin woman who always worried pushed him into telling her that he was doing fine. This forced him to find an approach that enabled him to take pictures during his best moments and scary situation to inform his mother that he was doing fine. Widening on the radius of the use of selfies and selfie apps remains a pervasive element that has given rise to the evolution of self-representation (Xu & Armstrong, 2019). These distinctive features are currently used by influencers to communicate, allowing the users to act as the producers, creators, and directors of their self-representation online.






Huda Kattan, an Oklahoma-born woman, considered as a makeup artist, remains one of the prominent, influential beauty artists owning a wide-range outreach on social media. Reports reveal that the artist mainly began as a blogger before changing her identity on Instagram, an aspect that led to the gaining of over 29 million followers who follow her makeup techniques and tutorials (Hall & Caton, 2017). In her pursuit to reach her audiences, the artist relies on the use of Instagram as one of the ideal outlets in promoting her brands.






Figure 2. Huda’s Makeup Representation






Her followers, mostly women, consider beauty as appearance and mostly rely on her visuals in selecting their wearables. Huda's success factors are mainly hedged on the skills directed towards showing her followers varied makeup applications while on the other hand establishing unique makeup trends (Hall & Caton, 2017). Huda currently runs a makeup shop, allowing her self-representation online on medial to reach out to several audiences. Several of her audiences, therefore, search for her advice on matters makeup.






Lastly, much like with fitness, it is essential to note th...