Instagram idols

There are seven types of social media: social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, social review sites like TripAdvisor, image sharing sites such as Instagram, video hosting sites, for example YouTube, community blogs like 500wordsevery2weeks, discussion sites like Reddit, and sharing economy sites which would include the likes of AirBnB. We have probably all used multiple social media sites already today.

The first recognisable social media site, SixDegrees.com, was created in 1997. The site was based on the six degrees of separation theory, and users could see their degree of connection to all other users on the site. Throughout the early and mid-2000s the number of social media sites increased exponentially, and by 2015 research showed that the world spent 22% of their time online using social media.

Instagram was launched in 2010, and in June 2018 it reached one billion active monthly users, who on average browse for 53 minutes a day. These statistics explain why the site has become such an influential marketing tool, and why it has become so important to brands looking to expand and reach an ever-growing audience of social media users. This has led to the rise of social media ‘influencers’ – people who have a massive social media following, and who can persuade others to act in a certain way based on their recommendations. Influencer marketing is now a billion-dollar industry.

An idol can be a religious image or it can be anyone we greatly admire. Social media influencers fall into the latter category, and have been able to position themselves as idols by developing parasocial relationships with their followers. This means that followers develop a psychological relationship with influencers, coming to feel like they know them as a friend. This dynamic is what drives sales for brands as followers come to trust the influencer, but also means that followers believe what the influencer says and the way they say to act. 

In some cases this can be a really positive thing. Selena Gomez has used her massive Instagram platform to promote charitable causes and initiatives to protect children from violence to her 144million followers, and numerous influencers amplified the Black Lives Matter movement on their platforms. However, there is a more sinister side to Instagram idolisation. Fuelled by lucrative sponsorship deals, Instagram influencers tell their followers what to wear, what to eat, and the most effective ways to work out, promising that by doing these things you too can achieve the perfect life. This can lead to followers growing dissatisfied with their own lives and bodies, and they may be encouraged to act in a way that can cause harm to themselves and/or others. Followers may also be exposed to misinformation from what they believe to be credible sources. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, anti-vaxx sentiment has rapidly spread online. 

So what do we do? Whilst I think it is important to recognise the benefits of social media, we also need to do more to address the harm that it, and that social media influencers, can cause. Idolisation of these individuals can be really harmful to social media users, and more must be done by sites and by legislators to protect people when they are online.

Comments

  1. BridgetFebruary 3, 2021 at 2:03 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. myarmFebruary 15, 2021 at 9:28 AM

    Absolutely. A sage conclusion :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. BridgetFebruary 21, 2021 at 2:21 AM

    Do you why you removed my comment please? Matter of interest

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Obscure Occupations - Greensmen

Everyone knows what a greensman is, right?  Or do they?... ..     Non-obscure greenkeepers care for golf courses and do horticultural things like looking after the grass and the plants.  But that is not the occupation that I am going to look at. My obscure greensmen (aka greenspeople or greens for short) have an interesting job that I didn’t know existed, and I might want to be one when I grow up.  The obscure occupation is ....... greensperson in the film industry.     These professionals are part of a film’s art department and they have a crucial but usually unnoticed specialist role. Greenspeople read the script and note where any vegetation is required. Then they research, source, place, maintain and care for all the trees, plants and vegetation on set, ensuring that every bit of foliage contributes to the visual story and matches the movie’s aesthetic. Think Deliverance, The Hobbit, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, ...
Read more

The Four Idols

Image
  Francis Bacon was an English scholar and philosopher who lived from 1561 To 1626. Amongst other things he wrote and thought about thinking.   I was Googling “idols” and Francis Bacon’s Four Idols kept cropping up, so I read a bit about them and it seemed very difficult and complicated. Then I kept on reading about them and actually it’s not that difficult, in fact I think it’s really interesting.   As I said, Francis Bacon thought about thinking and, long before the birth of modern psychology, he understood that the human mind doesn’t always reason correctly. He argued that this fact needed to be understood before new ideas could be developed.   He advocated using inductive reasoning and experiments to gain insight and to prove or disprove a theory.   He wrote a book called Novum Organum and in it he outlined the Four Idols which (I think) basically described four major errors in mental processing that result in obstacles to new and innovative thinkin...
Read more