Within the past decade, social media use has exploded. Studies show that seventy-one percent of teens have multiple social media accounts with ninety-two percent of them online daily (Al-Kahtib). According to the website Statista, as of September 2017, Instagram, a mobile photo-sharing application released in 2010 (Lagorio-Chafkin), is the seventh most popular social media network. On Instagram, users post photos for followers, who can comment and “like.” Likes simply allow users to know which images their followers enjoy seeing.
Kevin Systrom, the current CEO of Instagram says, “Accounts should be cohesive, telling the story about a person’s life, and who they are. Any photo that’s authentic to that is a good post, filter or no filter” (D’Onfro). I believe, however, Instagram promotes the exact opposite. The most popular accounts and the most liked posts are rarely a realistic representation of a user’s life narrative.
In my ASTU 100 class, Dr. McNeill introduced the concept of the “Facebooked” subject. The “Facebooked” subject represents cultural norms and values, which define what is important. Alike the “Facebooked” subject, Instagram, through likes, defines the importance of events in users’ life narrative. Personally, I have experienced this phenomenon. When a post on my account receives a lot of likes, I’m encouraged to keep posting similar photos. I disregard the fact that I should define what I want to post and what I consider a noteworthy part of my life to share. By doing so, my account starts to represent less of my true life. This experience is not merely restricted to personal accounts such as mine but also to accounts with a greater following.
For example, Alexis Ren, a 20-year-old Instagram celebrity, has 11.2 million followers and averages 800k likes on her posts. Many of Ren’s photos feature her lounging around on the beach in a bikini or in bed in lingerie. Some, however, do feature snapshots of her everyday clothed life, such as an image of her cuddling a giant teddy bear posted on October 27th, 2017. This post received an impressive 706k likes but is nothing compared to her second most recent photo of her posing provocatively in a bikini on a beach, which received 205k more likes. These likes promote the false idea that bikini poses are the most important part of Ren’s life. In an interview with the Cosmopolitan, Ren admits that her account masks her true life, and that it doesn’t come close to telling her life story.
As these examples demonstrate, both personal and celebrity accounts suffer the consequences of a distorted life narrative. The most popular accounts do not tell a cohesive story about an individual. The most liked posts are not authentic. Rather, users create these accounts and posts to appeal to the audience. Through my analysis of Instagram accounts and likes, I now realise that the workings of Instagram create a false façade that develop unauthentic representations of an individual’s life narrative.
Works Cited
Al-Khatib, Talal. “Is Too Much Social Media Use Bad for Teen Health?” Seeker, Group Nine, 10 Sept. 2015, www.seeker.com/is-too-much-social-media-use-bad-for-teen-health-1770234946.html. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
D’Onfro, Jillian. “Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom’s advice on sharing the perfect picture.” Business Insider, 6 Oct. 2015, www.businessinsider.com/kevin-systrom-what-makes-a-good-instagram-post-2015-10. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine. “Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Founders of Instagram.” Inc., 9 Apr. 2012, www.inc.com/30under30/2011/profile-kevin-systrom-mike-krieger-founders-instagram.html. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
“Most famous social network sites worldwide as of September 2017, ranked by number of active users (in millions).” Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
Narins, Elizabeth. “Instagram Star Alexis Ren Opens Up About the Eating Disorder She Hid for Years.” Cosmopolitan, 25 May 2017, www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a9657755/alexis-ren-eating-disorder/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
Ren, Alexis. “brb.” Instagram. 6 Nov. 2017, https://www.instagram.com/p/BbK9BqCDb56/?taken-by=alexisren. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.
Ren, Alexis. “I’ve already fallen asleep on him twice.” Instagram. 27 Oct. 2017, https://www.instagram.com/p/BawpJuWj_tG/?taken-by=alexisren. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017.