(Image by Kylie Louie, 10 August 2013.)
According to
Hills (2009), he suggests that today’s youth is utilising mobile digital media
technologies to establish our online identities stressing that the ability to
take and upload images almost instantaneously has played a major role in this development.
Furthermore, profile pictures are also ‘a short hand for changing,
up-to-the-minute performances of self.’ (Hills 2010, p. 118) Moreover, profile
pictures are one of the easiest ways to represent ourselves online and can give
an insight to the individual without having ever met them. Although I don’t change
my profile picture that frequently on my social networking sites, particularly Facebook, they usually
consist of the same picture of me at the beach and the odd shameful “selfie.”
Except 1. I don’t particularly like the beach and 2. I find “selfies” annoying.
Hypocritical you might say, but why have that as my profile picture? Although
my Facebook page is personal I do try to upload pictures that are considered
somewhat formal as well as I am still cautious of future employers browsing my
page. Profile pictures can say a thousand words but with profile pictures constantly
being uploading and changing is it really an accurate representation of our
real self?
Marshall (2010)
links celebrity culture to the development of our online identity and contends
that it is an important factor on how we present ourselves to the world. I
follow quite a few celebrities on twitter but mostly for styling, fashion and
beauty related advice. I do believe that celebrities have influenced our online
personas whether sporting a ‘selfie’ profile picture or trying to sport Kim
Kardashian’s signature makeup look it has undoubtedly influenced the way we ‘prune’
ourselves online to our celebrity counterparts.
Chalkley (2013) and Ellison et al.
(2007) both imply that the next challenge of innovation will not be more
advanced phones or even faster data but rather our definitions of ‘friends’, ‘community’
and ‘society.’ Furthermore, Ellison (2007) contends that with the technological
developments with the internet it can have positive and negative effects on the
individual. I myself still wonder out of all the 500 ‘friends’ I have on
Facebook, I only talk to about 10 on a regular basis and whilst I may get a few
likes on every status that I post I can still feel lonely; as our ‘online
identity’ quickly expands will our real life identity get lost in the process?
Bibliography
Ellison et al. (2007), ‘The Benefits of
Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social
Network Sites’, Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1143-1168
Marshall, P D 2010, ‘The promotion and
presentation of the self: celebrity as marker of presentational media’, Celebrity
Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 35-48
Hills, M 2009, ‘Case study: social networking and self-identity’, in Creeber, G and Martin, R (eds.), Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Open University Press, Maidenhead, pp. 117-21
Chalkley, T 2013, ‘Teen identity in the digital age: who exactly is “me” now days?’, conference paper presented at Transformational Communication and the New Asia, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
CONTOUR AND HIGHLIGHT LIKE KIM KARDASHIAN - STEP
BY STEP. Video, 7 June 2012, gossmakeupartist, date retrieved: 10 August 2013, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBLHE0ME-GA>Hills, M 2009, ‘Case study: social networking and self-identity’, in Creeber, G and Martin, R (eds.), Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Open University Press, Maidenhead, pp. 117-21
Chalkley, T 2013, ‘Teen identity in the digital age: who exactly is “me” now days?’, conference paper presented at Transformational Communication and the New Asia, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Hi Kylie, a great blog post.
ReplyDeleteI really like tone of this article. It is obvious that a lot of thought and research has gone into constructing this post and despite regular quotes and references, the conversational tone of the article makes the piece more relaxed and easy to read. I really liked that you consistently referred to your own experiences throughout the post as well and the academic references are spot-on with the questions you pose the reader. Particularly as media students we must remain really conscious of our online identity as you have recognised in your post. This post will be getting me to keep thinking even after I close the window. Thanks!
Hi Kylie, I agree with Jessica in that your blog appears to be very well researched and informative, yet still maintains that relaxed tone which retains the reader’s attention. I love the discussion about profile pictures; it really got me thinking about mine and the reasons behind my choice of photograph. Like you, I tend to be weary of employers and try to be somewhat formal. However, I realised that I do choose pictures that I believe accurately represent my personality or interests. I choose pictures that I think can present me in the way I wish to be perceived. For example, when I was on exchange last semester and travelling around Europe almost every weekend, I choose profile pictures that could display where I was at that given point in time, hoping to convey to family and friends that I was having a great time travelling and seeing some amazing sights. So in that sense, I think that profile pictures do, somewhat, portray an accurate representation of self. Overall, this was a great piece of work and I look forward to reading some more of your blogs. Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi there, I pretty much agree with the comments before me. Great job on this post! I love the casual and conversational tone of this piece, it makes it so easy and enjoyable to read. However you have also still incorporated a decent amount scholarly sources which back up your points. Also very relatable in regards to your personal experiences, I definitely began to think about my display picture and I completely agree with you, although I despise selfies I do indeed show one. A good choice of Media was also used to emphasise your points such as the makeup tutorial of Kim K. My only critique which really is nit picking is that I am not particularly sure which blog post alternative according to Chris this is? Perhaps this can be made a little clearer next time. Overall a great job though!
ReplyDelete- S
Hi Kylie
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post on the world of social media and I liked you tying in your own use of a 'profile picture' to back up your point. I think when you say we may lose ourselves that you're half right. I believe that when we update our profile picture or status we want to put out a representation of ourselves at the best moment at that current time. Social Media has provided new insecurities, and so the need for some people to update their Facebook constantly is a message to people that they aren't getting boring. It seems to be a mask to hide their other reality that family and close friends know about, and being comfortable with them eliminates the need to change in that aspect.
Thanks for the read!
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