Title
Instagram: The Social Market
Affiliation
College of the Pacific
Location
Vereschagin Alumni House
Start Date
3-3-2017 4:00 PM
End Date
3-3-2017 6:00 PM
Presentation Type
Paper
Description
The institution of social media in nearly every aspect of our daily lives has been both a beneficial boon and a burden to society. One cite in particular, Instagram, has been extremely successful over the past seven years in creating a microcosm of our gendered society and more intensely, in upholding traditional female gender norms through its increasing shift in becoming a social market. It inherently creates a social space where vain conventional beauty/gender standards and products are upheld, promoted, and are progressively being sold. This is made possible by individuals ability to acquire popularity and “influence” in the form of followers. This popularity and influence in turn attracts interest from huge corporations and businesses whom contribute over one billion dollars a year to members of the cite through sponsorship, in return for these popular individuals to market their products and ultimately a lifestyle that they wanted to be associated with. Photographs appearing on the cite as a result become altered, edited and ultimately unrealistic in order to suit their marketing purpose. As a result, Instagram has evolved into a space in which every member is judged on their ability to gain influence and followers by exuding perfection in all areas of life- specifically in traditional women’s interests; beauty, fashion and lifestyle. In addition to this, it is concerned with how well its most influential members are at marketing and selling such products/ ideas to the general public so that they keep on scrolling, thusly creating a Social Market.
(249 Words)
Disciplines
Communication Technology and New Media | Gender and Sexuality | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | International and Intercultural Communication | Public Relations and Advertising | Social Media
Instagram: The Social Market
Vereschagin Alumni House
The institution of social media in nearly every aspect of our daily lives has been both a beneficial boon and a burden to society. One cite in particular, Instagram, has been extremely successful over the past seven years in creating a microcosm of our gendered society and more intensely, in upholding traditional female gender norms through its increasing shift in becoming a social market. It inherently creates a social space where vain conventional beauty/gender standards and products are upheld, promoted, and are progressively being sold. This is made possible by individuals ability to acquire popularity and “influence” in the form of followers. This popularity and influence in turn attracts interest from huge corporations and businesses whom contribute over one billion dollars a year to members of the cite through sponsorship, in return for these popular individuals to market their products and ultimately a lifestyle that they wanted to be associated with. Photographs appearing on the cite as a result become altered, edited and ultimately unrealistic in order to suit their marketing purpose. As a result, Instagram has evolved into a space in which every member is judged on their ability to gain influence and followers by exuding perfection in all areas of life- specifically in traditional women’s interests; beauty, fashion and lifestyle. In addition to this, it is concerned with how well its most influential members are at marketing and selling such products/ ideas to the general public so that they keep on scrolling, thusly creating a Social Market.
(249 Words)
Comments
I am a junior History Major with a gender Studies Minor and am currently a member of the National History Fraternity, Phi Alpha Theta, in addition to being a member of the Pacific Women’s Field Hockey team.