Selfies on Instagram: A ticket to the Online Expression Game
Jastyn Kim B. Cuarte
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BLOG #1
The boom of social media platforms paved the way for people to establish their ‘ideal self’ online. In Goffman`s dramaturgical model, these social media platforms serve as the user`s front stage wherein layers of impression management are carried out. People thereby engage themselves in manipulative activity Goffman calls the ‘expression game’. One of the most common mediums of ‘ideal’ self-expression online comes in the form of selfies.
“Why does she takes so many pictures of herself?”
Instagram, among other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, caters a lot of selfies through its story feature. In 2020, the number of selfies posted on Instagram amounts to 35 million (Smith, 2020). Instagram selfies, however, have been roped to the idea of vanity which is primarily based on the number of selfies a person shares online. As defined by Merriam Webster`s dictionary, vanity is an inflated pride in oneself or one`s appearance. This, then, somewhat gives off a negative connotation because most people attach being vain largely to someone who lacks meaning or substance (Pope, 2013). In relation to this, taking selfies is a behavior that is more likely to be associated with women (Edwards, 2018). However, this does not necessarily mean that women and femmes who are fond of taking selfies are vain. It must be noted that there are numerous reasons behind this phenomenon. Society`s beauty standards, for one.
Stressing the importance of rules, Goffman indicates that however strategic or manipulative players may seem, they act within a set of norms that influence their moves (Goffman`s Sociology of Everyday Life, n.d.). Here, women and femme outnumbering men in posting selfies online can be attributed to society`s unrealistic beauty standards. In the cultural lens of femininity, this tells women to look a certain way in their selfies to be considered good-looking and to receive an acceptance or applaud from the general audience. Hence, it can be concluded that this phenomenon is deeply inculcated in a socially competitive online world.
#SelfLove<3
On the contrary, there have been individuals who share their ‘authentic’ selves through selfies which come along with the hashtag ‘#SelfLove’. Although they may receive criticisms from the viewers, they present their flaws confidently without using filters. It shows that Instagram has also offered an avenue for users to celebrate their authentic selves which are out of the mainstream definition of beauty. Also, Instagram profiles and selfies are now being used as tools for social movements aiming for significant causes primarily for marginalized individuals. Indeed, as Croteau and Hoynes have posited, while new media perpetuates dominant ideology, it can also be used to challenge them.
All in all, Instagram selfies somewhat blur the line whether users are putting up a front or showing their true selves. Goffman`s concept of expression games is somewhat limited to the offline world. After all, people cannot objectively identify what is real or not just by looking into their phone screens specifically when they do not personally know the subject. Finally, it is important to note that people are more than just their selfies. They still have respectable lives, experiences, and personalities in the physical world which we may not know about. Hence, it is important to always practice careful judgment on and offline. As one famous quote from the novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry says,
‘One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.’
References:
Edwards, K. (2018, February 5). The real reason women take selfies. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/the-real-reason-more-women-take-selfies-20180204-h0tl5m.html
Goffman`s Sociology of Everyday Life Interaction. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/64381_book_item_64381.pdf
Pope, C. (2013, August 23). A powerful and humorous look at vanity in a commercial. http://blog.adw.org/2013/08/a-powerful-and-humorous-look-at-vanity-in-a-commercial/
Smith, C. (2020, July 1). 10 Things you didn`t know about selfies (Selfies Statistics). https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/selfie-statistics/
BLOG #2
THE BLOGOSPHERE`S PLAY BUTTON:
"Hello, guys! Welcome to my vlog!"
But first, how did we get from blogging to vlogging?
Firstly, a blog (a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information that started in 1994 (Minaev, 2022). With the creation of YouTube in 2005, people started to broadcast their content with a video. Thus, “vlogs” are born. A vlog (shortened version of a video blog) is a form of blog for which the main medium is video. Vlog entries are published regularly and frequently include embedded video or a video link, as well as supporting text, photos, and metadata (Gao, et al., 2010). Like blogging, vlogging can include almost all kinds of content, just with audiovisuals. With the popularity of YouTube as a video platform, vlogging started to surpass blogging. Moreover, with new media technologies, people are becoming more attracted to watching videos than reading content.
Gao, et al., (2010) posit that a vlog has a life cycle and that it consists of three stages:
a.) Producing, b.) Posting, and c.) Archiving.
Vlogging isn`t easy as you think!
The following are some of the challenges experienced by Vloggers related to Gao, et al.,`s (2020) vlog life cycle.
1. What to do next?
The first process in the vlog cycle is producing where the vlogger creates and edits a video, uploads it to the hosting site, and then creates a new vlog. YouTube permits easy sharing of videos online anytime. However, vloggers must continuously post new videos so that their followers would continue viewing and subscribing to their content. With this, they frequently face problems in creating new ideas for content. Just like sitting on a ‘play button’, they need to keep going.
2. Bashers everywhere!
Next to producing is posting where the new video is posted online, begins to gain attraction in the “blogosphere” and is frequently linked to other vlogs. At this point, other vloggers can view and comment on the vlog. Some vlogs have even become authorities in their fields. This is where other vloggers and viewers perform gatekeeping (deciding which topic to comment on) and agenda-setting (how much to say about them) in the “vlogosphere”. When these gatekeepers like or approve a vlogger`s content, they would hit the like button, reshare the video, comment on them or just continue subscribing. However, since viewers are of different backgrounds, preferences, and attitudes, it is quite inevitable that critics and bashers will be present.
3. Where did it go?
Archiving is the last process in Gao`s (2010) vlog cycle where a vlog will be archived if it gets out of date or is no longer relevant. We all know that anything we post online stays online forever. However, for the vloggers, if their content is not appealing to the viewers and is tightly competing with other content, they can get ghosted. Despite the effort in their production, not all content can be relatively engaging for the viewers.
Vlogs exist together as a community or a social network, thus, the use of the term Vlogosphere is a derivative of Shoemaker & Reese`s (2014) Blogosphere. With the life cycle of a vlog, we learned that vlogging (although it is usually deemed as a “lightweight and fun way of expression” as what is portrayed on a significant amount of videos on YouTube) is an exhausting process.
Since the blogosphere is a vast environment full of gatekeepers, turning into vlogging as a source of living in today`s digitalized society is not easy as
1, 2, 3…, “Hello guys, welcome to my vlog!”
References:
Minaev, A. (2022, May 18). What is a Blog? – Definition of Terms Blog, Blogging, and Blogger. FirstSiteGuide. https://firstsiteguide.com/what-is-blog/
Gao, W., Tian, Y., Huang, T., & Yang, Q. (2010). Vlogging. ACM Computing Surveys, 42(4), 1–57. https://doi.org/10.1145/1749603.1749606
Shoemaker, P. & Reese, S. (2014). Mediating the Message in the 21st Century A Media Sociology Perspective. Routledge, NY: Longman.
BLOG #3
As for my experience, it has been a challenging process to accept, not only the defeat of my presidential candidate Leni Robredo but the disinformation victory of we-know-who. What`s more is that, as a sociology-psychology major who has been aware of how many people are persuaded by misinformation in social media, as much as try to understand where people are coming from, I somehow cannot understand nor accept that some of my friends are among them. I tried to personally message a friend who has shared her sentiments regarding the elections on Facebook that were practically leaning towards the candidate of that ‘we-know-who’ (I somehow do not like to mention his nickname because that`s my father`s nickname too, who ironically supported him. my family supported and voted for him except for my mom, ugh) only to find out that aside from many other fake credentials, she believes that “Oxford degree”. I tried to patiently and politely lay out all the facts to counter her arguments but it was I who turned out to be “toxic” in the end. I gave up!
In an age of post-truth, fake news and disinformation have become a focal point for understanding the political impact of the media (Cushion, 2019). The results of the 2022 National Elections in the Philippines is an evidence of how social media platforms successfully acted as the machinery of lies. The proliferation of fake news across social media platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Youtube strongly impacted the beliefs of the netizens, particularly the voters, and numbed their senses for identifying the truth although the facts about their candidates are just right in front of them. Fake news and I guess, their idolatry and their pride, blinded them.
References:
Akhunzada, A. & Khan, T. (2021). Fake news outbreak 2021: Can we stop the viral spread? https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S1084804521001326
Cushion, S. (2019). The Political Impact of Media. In Curran, J and Hesmondhalgh, D. (eds). Media and Society. 6 th edition. Bloomsbury Academic.
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