In this week’s BCM111 seminar we looked at both western social media platforms and non-western platforms. We were even given the chance to explore a non-western social media platform, and lets just say I’m happy with the platforms I use and won’t be branching out anytime soon. I’m comfortable with my most used platforms.
This week we’ve been asked to discuss 1 social media platform and the way we use it to present a sense of self.
I love Instagram. I think it is an easy to use platform with the best functions to show each other our lives. I use my account to show my followers all the fun and exciting things I have done or am doing. I like to think my Instagram page represents an authentic version of myself but also a curated version of my life. The persona I present on my social media has been curated to only show the happy, fun loving version of myself. I have done this because I’m afraid of publicly showing my struggles and insecurities which make me uniquely me.
In my opinion Instagram has the best affordances. An affordance refers to the action potential that can be taken given a technology (Gibson, 1979; Hutchby, 2001; Leonardi, 2011; Majchrzak & Markus, 2013). Marshall McLuhan in 1967 noted “the social consequence of any medium-that is, of an extension of ourselves” thus if social media has the ability to function as an extension of ourselves, Instagram is the easiest platform that allows me to express myself. Instagram is the best medium for me to present myself through because its functions best suit my lifestyle.
Instagram allows me to follow my friends, celebrities and influencers, but I also have the ability to post photos, videos, live stream and comment to name the affordances I most commonly use on a daily basis, and yes I use my Instagram daily.Instagram gives me the ability to filter photos and selectively choose the photos and videos I post to make myself seem “perfect”.
I mainly market myself to an audience in my age bracket, ages from 16-22. I do this because I want to appear like every other 19 year old enjoying life with my friends and showing what my uni life is like. Instagram as a social media platform has also given my family the opportunity to see me mature into the girl I have become. Social media has been an amazing tool to connect with them when they live on the other side of the world.
Instagram has the affordance to make your account public or private. I have chosen after many years of owning a private account to now open my account to be publicly viewed by anyone. I made the change to allow me to publicly develop my online presence. In the society we currently live in, social media has the ability to consume us. Luckily for me, I have been able to differentiate the difference between real life and the social media lifestyle.
Instagram: @oliviajlopez https://www.instagram.com/oliviajlopez/
Fashion Instagram account: @oliviajlopezm https://www.instagram.com/oliviajlopezm/
-Olivia
References
Definition of SOCIAL MEDIA (2020), merriam-webster.com, viewed 27 August 2020, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media>.
Instagram (2018), Instagram.com, viewed 27 August 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/>.
Majchrzak, A, Faraj, S, Kane, GC & Azad, B (2013), ‘The Contradictory Influence of Social Media Affordances on Online Communal Knowledge Sharing’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 38–55, viewed 28 August 2020, <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jcc4.12030#:~:text=We%20theorize%20that%20social%20media,%2C%20and%20generative%20role%2Dtaking.>.
Shane-Simpson, C, Manago, AM & Gaggi, N (2018), UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Previously Published Works Title, viewed 28 August 2020, <https://escholarship.org/content/qt9sq7z6gz/qt9sq7z6gz.pdf>.
Olivia Lopez 