How Do I Know What's Real or Not?

A random thought that came upon me last night was, “Is what I see online true?”

Social Media Tree by GDJ (CC0 1.0)

Before I start, here's an infographic about myself that I tweeted so you can get to know me better! (It'll come in handy later, it's not completely random 🙃)

Through the use of social media, I realise I create different personas through different accounts. One specific example would be through Instagram. Regarding my current situation, I own two different accounts. The way I separate them is through calling it my “main” and my “second”. In these two words it’s easy to tell that I’ve made a distinction of level between the two accounts already. However, this was not always the case. When I started using Instagram, I only had one account to use. Later on, the trend of having second accounts or the term “finsta” (meaning, ‘fake instagram’) came around. This became popular because people would create second accounts for their close friends or for pictures and videos that were more personal. As this trend grew, I found myself making one as well.

The account I consider my main is the account where I post pictures that seem neat, aesthetically pleasing, and professional. I consider it professional because I wouldn’t mind parents, teachers, or future bosses seeing the content I post. As my main account has a wider audience with more followers, this makes me more hesitant to post what I want to on a whim. The pictures I post on my main page are things I would keep up on display for people to see when they visit my page. For example, the stories I post on my main page would most likely be added to one of my highlights so that whoever decides to visit my page will see that as well.

With my main account, I tend to change things a lot. From my profile picture, highlight covers, posts, and bio. Through my habit of altering my account ever so often, I realise that I have quite the obsession of creating a specific persona to the people who follow me online – whether I know them in real life or not. This sparked another question. Why do I do this? Well, to answer my question, I read through a book from Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson that covered the topics of online self presentation.

In this excerpt I chose, Smith and Watson (2014:71) mentions, “In online self-presentation as in offline life narration, then, the “I” of reference is constructed and situated, and not identical with its flesh-and-blood maker. Moreover, that “I” is constituted through discursive formations, which are heterogeneous, conflictual, and intersectional, and which allocate subject positions to those who are interpellated through their ideological frames, tropes, and language.” If you have seen my Twitter page, I’ve actually already covered this extract in one of my tweets.

To summarise the tweet, I related to this extract because it resonated with my question. If the pictures and videos that people display online represent who they are as a person, then it should be concluded that their online identity is their true self and personal identity. However, this is not always the case. In another study by Hu et al. (2014:4), they suggest that a reconstruction of identity can be achieved through hiding undesired features, altering their biography, and personality. In both of these extracts I used, they both address the problem of how social media easily enables people to create fake online personas. Now back to my question, I realise that I feel the need to alter my account every now and then because of the way I want people to view me. The effects social media has on a person can be influential to the way they care about how they appear to others.

My second account is where I post things about my daily life and an account that I feel shows the “realer” side of me. Though both my accounts are private, I am more wary of the people I let in on my second account as the people who follow me are only people that I consider really close. My second account is where I feel more comfortable to post as I know the people who view my second account are people I trust and know personally. If I could describe the persona I create for my second account in 3 words, it would be: impulsive, messy, and carefree. On the other hand, I would describe my main account as: organised, planned, and professional. The distinction between the two shows how I handle both accounts.

As I have reflected over my use of Instagram, I realise that the dangers of social media are real. If I myself can easily create a persona I want people to view me as, then it would be the same for any other person. Always trusting what you see on social media can be a danger and should be avoided in order for safe social media usage.

Do you remember the infographic I included at the beginning? Well, it wasn't entirely true. I don't actually like organising and sleeping, I just made it up! I'm not really neat nor do I like sleeping because I feel I could be doing better things. See how easy it is to create a persona for yourself? Always remember to fact check what you see on social media, especially if it's someone you're curious about!

Reference List

Smith, S and Watson, J 2014, ‘Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online SelfPresentation’, in Poletti, A and Rak, J (eds.), Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 70-95.

Hu, C, Li, Z and Jiao, H 2014, ‘EXPLORING ONLINE IDENTITY RECONSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL NETWORK COMMUNITIES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY’, PACIS 2014 Proceedings, pp. 1-11.