Food is universal and food is relevant. 

Instagram has become synonymous with food photos, and food blogs are one of the most popular categories of blogs on the web. Lucy Longs (in a reply to Kiersten Mcgaughey’s article) responds that “food, perhaps because of the universality of eating, is a particularly popular topic of blogs”. However, despite food and eating’s universality, food photos are a common source of soft ridicule among a social-media centred society. Whipping out your smartphone to take a picture of your meal is “so gen-y” and should probably be featured on Portlandia as a skit with Fred and Carrie.

Nevertheless, coming back to Long’s point on the universality of food, food is relevant- and for some, interesting. The types of food blogs vary from vegan ventures, gluten-free goodness to traditional but exciting ethnic cuisine.

Although food online is a new age concept, perhaps it is only because the internet is a new age form of media. Traditionally, there was no avenue to share food photos, or access endless collections of recipes with the click of a mouse. Food is universal, interesting to most, and now there exists an avenue to share it. The progression to an internet full of food no longer seems to far fetched.

Food also plays a large role in our lives today: we have varying dietary habits, lots of variety, and for the most part, expendable income. How much would an online food journal inform us of our projected narratives? Ethnicity, social class, moral concerns and principles, interests?

A personal spin:

I am an athlete and a vegan. My values lie in the treatment of animals and the health of our bodies: from my instagram page this is very clear (kenblen), and well as my own personal blog Kenblenblog.com. You’re welcome to check me out and learn about my online narrative :).

Works cited

Longs, Lucy. Reply to “Food in Binary: Identity and Interaction in Two German Food Blogs”. Bowling Green State University. <http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~caforum/preview/volume9/pdf/mcgaughey.pdf>. 2010.

Mcgaughey, Kerstin. Food in Binary: Identity and Interaction in Two German Food Blogs. Boston University.<http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~caforum/preview/volume9/pdf/mcgaughey.pdf>. 2010.

Eli Pariser speaks about the way we receive information online, how algorithms determine what we see and do not see. Ultimately, algorithms act as sensors. The algorithms, selecting our preferred avenues, gather information from how often we click on things, who we speak to online, and who we appear to be close with (photos, being tagged, etc.). Essentially, the algorithms create an online profile of a person. A created profile, although created by an algorithm without “morals”, according to Eli Pariser, does gather information from what we choose to put online.

The information we put online, including the “about” section on Facebook, our photos, status updates and location updates, all contribute to a created online narrative and identity. Facebook features glamorous lives, ones of adventure, parties and friendship. We keep the photos we like, and “untag” the ones we do not. Our online narratives showcase who we want to be and what we want people to see about out lives. We avoid the mundane and unpleasantries of normal every day life, such as: failing grades, family fights, failing relationships…or the cold porridge we eat for breakfast.

Just as algorithms filter information, we filter what we put online. Our online identities are created by us, showcasing the aspects of ourselves we find worthy and interesting. Algorithms, although censoring, and without human morals, do reflect what we choose to put out there.

Algorithms reflect our perceived images based on our online information. For this blogger, this raises questions about the location of authenticity online.

However, authenticity of online narratives may not be so different than questions of authenticity of more historical narratives/diaries (like Anne Frank). This raises questions like:

What makes social media narratives different from the more traditional narratives? Or, what similarities do social media narratives share with the traditional? Are they one in the same, with social media as the modern equivalent?