Social Media, Selfies, Personal Branding, Narcissism… What’s a Librarian to Do?

During our Wiki group assignment, which focused on the pros and cons of altmetrics, I wondered about the effects that personal branding exercises would/could have on the personality. Would the process of promoting one’s work (and one’s self) help improve ties between post-secondary institutions,  and broader communities? between academics and non-academics? between people?; would social media tools help researchers grow on a personal level, and would that, in turn, increase their motivation to be more innovative?; or would communication with others  become an unhealthy popularity contest?

Then one morning on CBC Radio’s The Current, in an episode entitled “Selfies: Narcissistic, Empowering, or Just Fun?,” I heard three people vigorously debating the merits and perils of selfies: “self-photos” which  young women, in particular, enjoy sharing with others over the Internet using tools, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr. Their debate made the questions above still more difficult to answer.

The selfie, I think, epitomizes the best and worst of aspects of social media, as demonstrated by the passion with which the panel members (Sarah Nicole Prickett, Andrew Keen, Hal Niedzviecki), writers all, debated the topic. Prickett, a twenty-something woman, and two pre-recorded female photographers argued that selfies have little to do with narcissism and everything to do with self-empowerment, especially in a world where women are frequently judged by their appearance. They asserted, too, that selfies were a part of personal branding, a necessity when traditional jobs and their attendant financial security are going by the wayside and being replaced by projects and tasks (Bersin, 2012). Niedzviecki responded that this act of seeming empowerment actually enslaves the selfie creator: her audience might become more demanding, and she, if naïve about how easily people—including herself—are influenced by others, might succumb to those demands to her later regret. Keen cautioned that selfies simply reflect the “democratization of celebrity culture,” and that in the “attention economy” only an “elite” few will win the attention they pursue: the others will look like fools or idiots. Keen himself maintains a presence on Twitter and other social media but is strongly opposed to selfies.

A selfie with a “smoke them” – created by jnyemb

I thought all of the panelists made valid points; they also inadvertently raised some interesting questions. For instance, I wondered why Keen, although comfortable with verbal self-promotion, was so fiercely opposed to images. He was further concerned about people appearing to be fools or idiots, which seems a weak argument against potentially courageous acts of self-empowerment. If we were all afraid of ridicule, very few of us would take any risks in life. Niedzviecki, like Keen, is convinced that all selfies are created for an audience, but are they? Many creative people simply enjoy the act of creating. An interested audience is a pleasant bonus. And Prickett’s argument for selfies as personal branding in precarious economic times did not fly for me, as most of the selfies I have seen posted are, at best, part of a personal development activity. How will an online diary help jobseekers acquire work? Further, Prickett’s out-of-hand dismissal of narcissism playing a role in selfie creation sends up red flags for me.  I think that such overconfidence in one’s motives can invite the insidious creep of self-absorption.

A great deal of research indicates that this aspect of selfies—and of social media use in general—must be taken seriously.  The work of many scholars (this chapter by Konrath offers a great review) has shown that “[s]elf-esteem and narcissism have been rising in college students from the late 1970s to 2010, with simultaneous declines in empathy” (Konrath, 2012. p.1). But while the drop in “empathic concern” (feeling what another feels) and “perspective taking” (understanding what another may be experiencing) has  occurred over four decades, the most significant decline began in 2000 which is the time when social media started coming to the forefront in the cyber world (Konrath, 2012, p.9). One reason may be because social media use can cut down on face-to-face interactions: some believe that this increased distance between people leads to decreased empathy, much as the famous 1965 Milgram experiment illustrated (Konrath, 2012, p.13). While Konrath notes repeatedly throughout her review that these phenomena are correlational and thus open to interpretation, she does also state that “every single study… that has measured the relationship between narcissism and social media use has found some sort of correlation between the two” (Konrath, 2012, p.15).

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish — you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one’s name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Emily Dickinson

So where does this leave the librarian? While my Wiki group was researching altmetrics this term, we learned that librarians have an important role to play in teaching scholars how to make optimal use of social media tools (Galligan, 2012). The possibilities are exciting, but it’s crucial for us to remember that our role is to educate, not evangelize. I think that this cautious approach is much needed, especially in light of such articles as “Historians Get Advice on Writing for the Readers of Today” in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  In this piece, Perry (2013) observes that many in- and outside the field of history, believe that historians should change their approach to writing history in order to appeal to larger numbers. As one commentator (px7_mq9) pointed out, however, the more popular history books, particularly the more thoroughly researched and accurate ones, “are a payoff of normal work done by historians… [work that] though necessary, will be dry as dust.” I think the lesson here for librarians is to avoid shoehorning scholars into communication models that don’t feel comfortable with. After all, social media, when used well, is about inclusivity and sharing—not conformity.

References

Bersin, J. (2012, January 31). The end of a job as we know it [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/31/the-end-of-a-job-as-we-know-it/

Brotzel, P. (Producer), & Mattar, P. (Producer). (2013, January 30). Selfies: narcissistic, empowering, or just fun? [Audio podcast). In J. Moroz (Executive Producer), The Current. Toronto, ON: CBC Radio. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/01/30/selfies-narcissistic-empowering-or-just-fun/

Galligan, F. (2012, August 31). Altmetrics for librarians and institutions: Part II [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.swets.com/blog/altmetrics-for-librarians-and-institutions-part-ii#.USBvdKXR2So

Konrath, S. (in press, 2012) The empathy paradox: Increasing disconnection in the ageof increasing connection. In Rocci Luppicini (Ed.), Handbook of research on technoself: Identity in a technological society, IGI Global. Retrieved from http://www.sarakonrath.com/media/publications/Konrath_-_Empathy_Paradox_2012.pdf

 Perry, M. (2013, January 4). Historians get advice on writing for the readers of today. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://chronicle.com/article/Historians-Get-Advice-on/136489/