Reflection

The critical analysis component of our website conceptualizes our interviews in the context of the class readings, as indicated in the citation component of our outline. Again, we hope to answer or at least explore how social media, and specifically Instagram, inhibits or promotes authenticity and self-completion online.

photo from Celia Hedric's personal Instagram

ENCODING-DECODING MODEL

In our interviews, we asked our subjects to think about how they were portraying themselves on instagram. We asked them the specific question of: “How would you describe your personality and self on instagram?” Some said, happy to funny to adventurous, encapsulating that they are living their best life. We then further asked about branding/ curating of their page and if they were consciously or subconsciously branding themselves on this platform. Most said no, that they were just simply posting what they wanted to post and it happened to create a certain aesthetic or ora around their instagram page. One said yes, that he actively curates his page into having a certain ‘feel’ or ora. While some do actively think about how they ‘brand’ themselves (because of their business or other reasons), most do not think about this if it is simply their personal account.

On the other hand, we asked on how they thought their pages were perceived. We asked this in the form of the question: “Do you believe that your instagram shows a complete picture of yourself or does it just show a specific portion of yourself?” We wanted our subjects to think about how they were putting themselves out on the platform while also thinking about how others saw their pages. Most said that they were only showing a portion of themselves on the platform and others most likely saw a limited perception of their full self.

When forming these questions, we referred to the ‘encoding-decoding model’ from Stuart Hall’s reading. In this reading, it refers to how misunderstandings can form in the media through inconsistencies in codings (both encoding and decoding). If something is encoded differently than it is decoded (and visa versa) than it creates misunderstanding of the meaning of the media itself. Hall quotes, “What are called ‘distortions’ or ‘misunderstandings’ arise precisely from the lack of equivalence between the two sides in the communicative exchange” (Hall 24). This communicative exchange is broken on instagram. Both the making of the instagram and the viewing of the profiles are unequal in portrayal and this inequity creates a distortion in identities of individuals on this platform. As one of our participants says, “I think there is a disconnect between how I am viewed as a person and how my instagram is viewed”. We see this disconnect directly through the answers of the individuals we interviewed who reflected on this distortion on encoding and decoding their instagram profiles.

During, Simon. The Cultural Studies Reader: Stuart Hall's Encoding, Decoding. Routledge, 2010.

THE MAGIC SYSTEM 

     I am interested in Raymond Williams construction of “the magic system,” as I would like to argue for the intersection of the analytical structure into the language of social media usage and personal branding. Although Williams intended for the magic system to be a representation of how advertising communicates to a larger audience, I believe this same consideration for how commodities, in this context being people themselves, are constructed and sold to their audience can be overlaid to social media. I chose to pursue the possibility of social media being an advertising platform as I would like to argue that placing social media into the rhetoric of the organization and reproduction of capital positions Instagram as a cite which commodifies and dehumanizes their consumers for the purpose of selling their “product.” In the context of our larger question, being if social media is meant for authentic representations, the magic system proves a correlation between Instagram and “unreal” iterations of a person’s identity online. The primary quotation which catalyzed my research as such can be summarized to the following: “Advertising is ‘magic’ because it transforms commodities into glamorous signifiers and these signifiers create an imaginary, in the sense of unreal, world” (Williams 320). Our project, through the usage of interview-based data, proves that the majority of people struggle to define how Instagram exactly operates as a representation of who they are. Therefore, I wonder if there is a way in which social media, specifically Instagram, transforms us, as consumers, into “glamorous signifiers” (320). And perhaps this transformation is what attracts a consumer to the platform in the first place. Therefore, Williams’ quotation can be amended to the following: “Social media is ‘magic’ because it transforms peopleinto glamorous signifiers and these signifiers create an imaginary, in the sense of unreal, world” (320). 

To continue with the analogy I, as a user of Instagram, become a signifier and a signified. Where me as a signifier is the person I present to the world, my physical presence standing in front of you now, and me as a signified is my social media platform. And the analogy could continue to the practice of affirming a person’s signified through likes and followers: where signifier is the follower, the physical person, and the signified is the “like” they attach to their handle (megdemarsh). I will briefly utilize semiotics to make this point clearer. The Saussurean model defines signifier as the form in which the sign takes and the signified being the concept it represents (Chandler). In other words, my social media platform represents me. But what I like about the Saussurean model is that it suggests the arbitrary relationship between this otherwise clear correlation. Therefore, by relaying social media to the language of the magic system we both see the arbitrary relationship between who I am and how I represent myself online, but also the creation of an unreal or imaginary version of myself through social media acting as a representative model of myself, as suggested in the following definition: “Social media is ‘magic’ because it transforms peopleinto glamorous signifiers and these signifiers create an imaginary, in the sense of unreal, world” (Williams 320). 

To further this argument, I would now like to intersect the creation of social media as a signified and therefore imaginary and unreal iteration of myself with Freud’s concept of the uncanny. The uncanny is an entity that is strangely familiar. Artificial intelligence is often defined as being uncanny because it appears to be humanized when still an artificial entity. It is in this intersection between the real and the unreal, and the indistinguishable quality between the two ,that induces an anxiety in those who witness its effects. In other words, the uncanny gestures to what is real, and it is this gesture that anxiety and fear is induced (Freud). In the context of Williams, social media transforms people into imaginary and unreal entities. And if we are to believe, as Freud suggests, that imaginary and unreal entities that signify real and concreate ones, are to frighten us, why does social media not do the same? I would like to argue that there is something anxiety inducing about the nature of social media as a constructed reality of oneself that creates an imaginary version of who we are. And I think this project, which forces our subjects to truly think about the construction of themselves on the platform, incites the needed conversation around how we represent ourselves online and the frightening indistinguishability of who we are and who we are on Instagram.

Chandler, Daniel. “Semiotics for Beginners.”Princeton University. 2007. https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/courses/BIB/semio2.htm. Accessed 15 May 
2019. 

Freud, Sigmund. “The ‘Uncanny.’” An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works.London: The Hogarth Press, 1919, 219-252. Print

Williams, Raymond. Advertising: the magic system. In Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso, 1980, 170-195. Print. 

CONCLUSION 

Our conclusion can be summarized to the following: 


Users of social media platforms do not actively consider the difference between their "real" self and their social media presence. As such, there becomes an indistinguishability between the authentic and the inauthentic, catalyzing our question: is social media meant to be authentic? The platform transforms people into "glamorous signifiers," that attracts users to creating Instagram profiles but ultimately prevents them from controlling how they are perceived. There is therefore a disconnect between the intention of how I present myself on social media and how that is received by my followers. This dissonance creates a two-dimensional view of self that contributes to an incomplete understanding of oneself (During). As referenced by Russell Brandon in a 2017 article on the open internet: “You can look at people from any angle and see something totally different, and yet they’re still the same" (Brandon). Therefore, social media creates an incomplete presence of self which incites inauthenticity. 

social media ----> incompleteness -----> inauthenticity

Or, in other words, the signified presence of myself on social media is an arbitrary designation. Therefore, my social media creates an imagined or unreal entity of myself that perpetuates the facade of authenticity to a core of inauthentic content. 

Brandom, Russell. "We have abandoned every principle of a free and open Internet." The Verge. 19 Dec 2017. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/19/16792306/fcc-net-neutrality-open-internet-history-free-speech-anonymity. Accessed 15 May 2019. 

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Video

As with our profiles, we were very intentional in selecting our subjects. The “messages” each interviewee articulates can be explained to the following: Instagram as a design platform, Instagram as personal branding and company-based representation, Instagram as social connection, and lack of Instagram usage. Lily, the first interviewee, utilizes Instagram as a social connection platform, perhaps the most traditional usage of the website. While Kate, the second interviewee, utilizes Instagram as an opportunity to practice and showcase her design skills. This diversity of purpose behind the social media platform provides articulate, introspective, and perhaps most importantly diverse understandings of how the platform operates in a person’s day to day life.

photo from Ella Grossman's personal Instagram

Lily 

Kate 

Roo

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Profiles

The primary purpose of the profile component, being written interviews, and video component, being recorded interviews, of our research is to engage with both the narrative and phenomenological understanding of Instagram as a cultural and personal force of representation. The contrast between the profile, as written, and the video, as recorded, will further illustrate the different forms, and limitations, of representing who people are on the Internet. We chose our interviewees intentionally, with the hope of representing a diversity of users and their opinions on the platform. The “messages” each interviewee articulates can be explained to the following: Instagram as a design platform, Instagram as personal branding and company-based representation, Instagram as social connection, and lack of Instagram usage. The anonymous interviewee utilizes Instagram for the purpose of personal branding and company-based representation, while Charlotte has a complicated relationship with the platform.

Photo from Sara Hanahan's personal Instagram

Anonymous

This person is a young entrepreneur who is a cofounder of two businesses. Their profile shows his best moments, while also finding a way to integrate their businesses into it without being too obnoxious about it. This person has posted 156 pictures, follows 609 people, and has a shocking 33.7 thousand followers.

What kind of people are your close friends/family and how would they describe you?

First and foremost, I aim to surround myself with positivity above all else. This isn’t an everyday thing, people have good and bad days, but the people who I believe are intrinsically positive.

The second factor for me is intelligence. I try to surround myself with people who are smarter than myself in various fields. While I’d consider myself pretty smart, I can’t be at everything, thus, I try to make sure the people around me are smart in what I am weak in.

The third factor for me is whether they are intrinsically good. Again, people have moments of weakness where they say mean things, judge, etc. but I surround myself with people who seek the good in people the majority of the time, and who I view to be good internally.

As for how they’d describe me, I think they’d say I try hard. I make large strides to be good, positive, and intelligent, and often fall short, but I think my friends and family recognize how hard I try to be those things. The key phrase I think they’d use would be hard working.

How would you describe your personality and self on Instagram? / How do you brand yourself on social media?

I portray the best moments of my life on Instagram, thus I would say my personality is positive, motivated, and happy. I brand myself as an entrepreneur on social media.

Can you talk us through your page? Is there a certain aesthetic or vibe you are curating through your page?

I like for my page to have wide appeal, thus, I never curse in social media posts, as I want kids to be able to follow me, I rarely post about friends, as I want people who have few to feel motivated. The aesthetic I go for is quality. I don’t, or rarely, post dark or blurry pictures because I myself don’t like when others do, so I don’t. The vibe I go for is a positive vibe, happy times. In my opinion, there is so much negativity out there that I don’t want to put that out there on social media.

How would you describe your Instagram personality versus how people close to you view you?

I think people would align the two together fairly closely. However, that’s “people”. If you were to ask friends, I think they’d say it poorly depicts the entirety of my life, as it only shows the good times, and just like everyone else, my life has plenty of bad times.

Do you believe that your Instagram shows a COMPLETE picture of yourself or does it just show a specific portion of yourself?

Only shows the positive sides.

Do you think that it is possible to show a COMPLETE picture of yourself and life on this platform? Why?

Not really, because nobody can get into your head, and I think the majority of one’s life is lived in their head. Theoretically, you could post how something someone said affected you, but they’d never be able to feel it the way you did, thus, you’ll never be able to put out a complete picture.

Is Instagram inauthentic?

No, there’s a lot I don’t like about Instagram, but there’s a lot I do. I don’t think it’s inauthentic, because even if you’re pretending to be someone who you currently aren’t, it might be because you’re striving or working to be that person. When you look good, you feel good, I believe that strongly.

What do likes mean? What do followers mean?

Nothing, they’re a metric for nothing. I think they’re the most damaging part of Instagram. Assigning a metric to give you validation can be painful and it’s an endless chase, I hate it. 


Charlotte Schwebel

Charlotte is a student at Colorado College. Her Instagram bio highlights her best and favorite qualities. She is a writer for the Catalyst and lives in the PRIDE hall and is a proud supporter. Charlotte has posted 235 photos on her Instagram page, has 455 followers and is following 454 people. She is not a typical user of the platform, as she periodically deletes the app and avoids its usage.

Can you think of someone in your life who is close to you and that knows you really well? How do you think that person would describe you?

Kind, smart and annoying

Can you walk us through your page and how you think yourself comes off on your page?

My most recent photos are pretty nice but when you go back as far as a year and a half ago, you actually find photos that other people posted on my account. My Instagram was hacked a lot during middle school and high school hacks because I never really posted anything. My Instagram used to be the first thing that came up when you looked up my name so I made it private because I didn’t want people or future employers to judge me based on my profile. I try to make my bio professional. I made my profile photo one of my family and I at my graduation, which has Colorado college student as the headline so that people who are looking me up but are not following me can get a vague idea of whom I am.

So you have the surface level “look nice” and then you make your photos private?

Yes so it is a happy medium between a finsta and an actual account.

When you go through peoples pages, do you think that it shows a full complete perspective of themselves?

I think it is a curated perception of them. I feel like Instagram is a place where you put “this is me in my ideal box” and your finsta is the exact opposite and shows you “at my rawest.” I think that Instagram depicts the perfect person, whatever you think that is. For some people that will be doing crazy things all the time and for other people it might just being in nature, however it always ends up only being pictures that you think are really good.

Would you say that Instagram is inauthentic as a platform and how do you view it as a whole?

I was going through my feed a few days ago and someone was looking over my shoulder and said “it's all pictures of people you know, how is this interesting at all?” I think Instagram has evolved from when I actually really used it in middle school where all your friends would want to see what you are doing and where you are, but now we have Snapchat for that. Now, when I look at my friends Instagram pages, 90% of their feeds are memes and famous people that they think are cool. When I recently redownloaded Instagram, it was because I was obsessed with Billie Eilish and I wanted to look at pictures of her and videos of her doing stuff and stalk all of her accounts, and her mom, and her dad, and her brother, and see every interview that was ever done. Instagram was great for that. But the way in which we put ourselves out to the world, I think finstas are authentic, generally and rinstas are very hyper curated, which doesn’t necessarily make them inauthentic, but if we’re defining inauthenticity as being someone who is different than you are or projecting a self that is different than you out there, it gets pretty inauthentic.

How would you compare your sisters Instagram to who she is? And how does she curate her Instagram?

Its changed a little bit now. Before she went to High Mountain Institute, which is a backcountry school in Colorado that a lot of CC kids go to, there were a lot of bathing suit photos on it, probably still are, a lot of parties, and I think it’s generally an accurate representation of what she would want people to think of her as, which is what Instagram is used for. I remember in middle school, your follow ratio was super important and people were always worried about how cool you were or how popular you were based on this ratio and the number of likes you get on a photo. There was some bullying going on through Instagram comments, so it was much more present socially for her, as a part of who she was, and attacks on it would be a personal attack, whereas for me I don’t think it has ever really been that.

So was it more like her self worth was attached to the amount of likes you got?

Yes, and comments. She’ll get around 500 likes and 50 comments on a photo of her in a bikini but if it is just a “regular” photo with friends, she will get 250/300.  

Any additional comments?

Part of the reason that I keep deleting Instagram is that it's really distracting in a way that I don’t feel productive at all, I am a massive procrastinator and me looking at 10,000 photos of someone isn’t helping anything. But on Facebook, if I am procrastinating on that, I am mostly reading articles. I think it’s more about what form of procrastination you chose. For some people, Instagram is not just a way of wasting time; it means a lot more than that.

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About Us

photo from Meg DeMarsh's personal Instagram

We, as curators of this website but also curators of our own Instagram accounts, will now engage with the platform. We will explore our own pages, critically analyzing the ways in which we create our own “content” and communicate our own, either intended or unintended, message. This component of our website ensures that we are asking ourselves to engage with Instagram in the same way we ask our interviewees too. We will each explore Instagram from a different critical angle, given our own experiences with the platform. The Instagram logos at the top of the website directly link to each one of our accounts. All photos included on the website are from each of our respective Instagram accounts, highlighting the diversity of usage and the difference in

Meg DeMarsh @megdemarsh

I would like to start off by talking about how I personally use Instagram and my intentions for the platform. I don’t love social media, but I do love scrapbooks. And I think this is the primary reason why I love this platform. My page is a digital scrapbook. It combines the people I love and the places I’ve been to create a digital repository of my life (which I’m sure the “higher-ups” of Instagram would love to hear). But I also understand that although I intend to use the platform as a vehicle of remembrance, my mere engagement with Instagram places me in the debate of how I represent myself online.

As I was scrolling through my page, I realized that my pictures, although I posted them as ways of collecting and I suppose inadvertedntly “publicizing” the people that I love, could be read as being fairly “basic.” What do I mean by “basic?” Social terminology, such as this, originated in the era of increased social media usage, where the expectation of what someone was going to post online turned into a form of social stereotyping. Basic is defined by Urban Dictionary, and as this is a project about social media presence in relation to a curated sense of authenticity I feel this is a valid source, as: "someone devoid of defining characteristics that might make a person interesting, extraordinary, or just simply worth devoting time or attention to" ('basic'). In other words, success on Instagram as a platform is dependent upon the erasure of your own identity. It is dependent upon conformity as a formulation of social capital. I am interested in how Instagram operates as a mechanism to connect with other people but how this process of externalization may ironically lead to self-depletion/distortion. My personal intention for the platform is therefore diminished, as the visual becomes the method of communication. And when the visual lends itself to a narrative of common themes found in Instagram feeds and pages, the person can become that which is projected upon their page. In other words, I don't consider myself "devoid of defining characteristics." But due to the nature of my page, which conforms to many cliches of the platform: being the inclusion of fairly formulaic photos of my friends and myself, I become what others view. I therefore lose control of my narration, and my intention for the platform, as it is appropriated to a single definition and a single story. This is the problem with romanticizing Instagram as a form of narratology, as I do in the prior paragraph.

"Basic." Urban Dictionary, 2019. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Basic. 

Celia Herdic @celia.a.her

I got Instagram in high school our of peer pressure. I was the only one out of my friends who didn’t have an instagram so I could never get tagged in pictures whenever we took pictures together. Because I didn’t have any online presence, it was as though I didn’t exist and it felt as though I had to catch up with the rest of the world.

Once I got it, my friends told me ‘the rules’ of instagram-- the unspoken rules of instagram. 1. Don’t post two times on the same day. 2. Don’t do two selfies right next to each other. 3. Don’t make your captions too long. 3. You should follow people back if you know them, if you don’t it’s offensive (and the list goes on).

Immediately when I encountered these ‘rules’, I knew I was not going to do it. It felt fake and it felt like too much to keep up with so I used it differently. I used it as an opportunity to show things that I thought were pretty. Whether it was a flower or a sunset or whatever, I took time out of my day to acknowledge it through a pictures and even though I probably didn’t even get 10 likes it was good enough for me. As time went on, I began to post more pictures and my interest in photography really developed and it became a daily thing of posting and editing a picture. As this passion developed, so did my captions. I talked about things that have been on my mind or quotes that have really stuck out to me. I manifested my page as a space for vulnerability and reflection and posting became a therapeutic practice for me.

As time went on and I got more followers people would always come up to me and be like “Celia, I love your instagram!”. Although I did definitely take it as a compliment, it also materialized the idea of people watching me. Before when I didn’t have many followers, I didn’t really think about what I posted, but as more followers came I found myself thinking more and more about who sees my content. Additionally, thoughts came about personal branding. I found myself subconsciously branding myself and although this brand I created for myself felt authentic, it also felt strange because this instagram is only ONE angle to me and sometimes I wondered and still wonder if people understand that.

In the past, I would post every single day (crazy right?!) but now, I find myself only posting occasionally, when I especially feel like it. I love going through my old pictures from when I was abroad and reflecting on my past experiences. Although Instagram has its downfalls, it is a great way to preserve past experiences, thoughts, and ideas to see how one has changed over time and this platform has definitely done that for me.

Sara Hanahan @shanahanahan

I feel that Instagram is a platform that changes so much with time and cannot be defined in its ways because of this. I joined the Instagram community approximately 6 years ago, when I was a freshman in high school. At the time I joined, I never thought too much about what I posted. If I liked a picture, I would post it. It was as simple as that. The first few pictures I posted were very wholesome and representative of myself and the people whom I chose to surround myself with. I would post both photos I liked but also moments I loved.

However, the longer I had the app; I started to understand the way I was “supposed” to use Instagram. I then started posting photos from special events, when I was composed, having a good time, and I wasn’t doing anything dumb. I then went through a phase where everything on my feed had a blue element in it, making my feed more “aesthetically pleasing.” I then moved on to a more retro theme, which seemed to make my feed look like I was having more fun, was always happy, and was constantly travelling (rather than studying). I was never intending to create a false perception of my life via my Instagram profile. I just rather became more critical of the photos I was in, and what I wanted other people to see, what part of myself I wanted everyone to see, and somehow, what I post is what I felt was the best representative of this.

Ella Grossman (@sporkpork and @ellaenchatme)

My Instagram presence would be split into two accounts my Rinsta, Real Instagram, and my Finsta, “Fake” Instagram. My Finsta started as a place to keep all of my posts I wouldn’t want my parents to see but it has evolved into a humble brag of the times I go out and may get a lil out of control.  Both of my accounts are private; the original reason for my first account to go private was that I worked at a summer camp and it was a rule to not give campers access to our social media accounts. They are private now because I like to have control over who can see my photos.

To be quite honest I do not post very often to either account. Yet, I have felt such an urge to do so recently. My most recent posts have been two months apart rather than the six-month average between the rest of them.

I think both accounts represent how I take pictures. I am not the type of girl to go to an event and take a picture with the squad very often, and even less so of just myself. I have been talking for years about taking a picture to replace my Facebook Profile Picture but have never gotten around to it. However, my habits were not always defined like this, I noticed a few years ago that if one goes a certain amount between posts that they will notify everyone who follows you when you post next. It got in my head and I started sticking to that schedule for a while.

Yet, not posting does not necessarily mean that I do not participate or use Instagram, I am on it multiple times a day checking up on others: seeing their posts, their stories, what they are up to. Subconsciously I’m well aware of the lack of authenticity Instagram presents, heck I still self-surveil on my Finsta, but when it comes to other people its hard for me to recognize that, especially when it comes to comparing myself to them. I am getting better at it, but I still have a long way to go to prevent Instagram aiding to my issues with self-appearance and self-worth.

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Overview

"capture and share the world's moments"

In our exploration of the inherent inauthenticity or authenticity of social media, we aim to gather a series of qualitative data that explores if and how social media, as both a platform representative of a larger institutional structure and personal sharing device, inhibits or promotes authentic representations of self. We understand that the term “authenticity” is often a broad and abstracted concept that correlates to an imagined state of “core” personal characteristics and values. We will add pressure to this definition in order to reconceptualize the idea of authenticity to the idea of completion. In what ways is an authentic self, in the context of social media, a complete self? Or, in what ways does social media brand its experience to be authentic and, therefore, induce its users to believe in the platform's, and therefore their own, pledge to this end?  

Our research is primarily interview-based, utilizing both narrative and phenomenological data to explore this question of how Instagram, the company, may engage in a process of self-branding to coherence their audience into believing in the representative power of social media as a complete image of self. Possible limitations to our research reside in the lack of quantitative data. But, as this project is fairly limited to a specific timeline, we wanted to focus our energy on the exploration of Instagram through narration, as we found it to be a more powerful voice for conceptualizing the often abstracted media theory in a more personal context.

Our questions revolve around the ideas of authenticity on personal instagrams and how people have intentionally/unintentionally branded themselves on this platform. All the questions strive to answer the big question of “is social media meant to be authentic?” The remainder of our questions go into personal reflection of the platform as a whole. 

PERSONAL VIEW OF THE GRAM
personality vs. Instagram personality

How would you describe yourself versus the personality you put out on instagram? How are they similar or different?
Can you talk us through your page? Is there a certain aesthetic or vibe you are curating through your page? 

Do you believe that your instagram shows a COMPLETE picture of yourself or does it just show a specific portion of yourself? 

SOCIETAL VIEW OF THE GRAM

reflection of Instagram as a platform

Do you think that it is possible to show a COMPLETE picture of yourself and life on this platform? Why?

Is instagram inauthentic?

What do likes mean? What do followers mean?

What does the phrase “Do it for the gram” mean?

Is instagram’s purpose to BE authentic?
Overall space for beliefs and opinions to be expresses (views from mental health to personal experiences etc.)

photo from Celia Hedric's personal Instagram 

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