| Image 1: Connecting in a virtual network |
As a result of having an assessment task revolving around Instagram I have found myself too often allowing myself to scroll down my its feed to “research and learn more about the social site”. Scrolling down Instagram feed you are able to get glimpses of people’s lives. By going onto their profile you can view people’s virtual self-narratives. A narrative has become a new thing with the introduction of the internet. It has allowed for mash-ups of information, editing, collaboration with consumers having an active role in what goes on. The real world is ‘inherently random and meaningless, and that humans confer meaning by imposing narrative structure’ (Hayden White, 2007). This occurs in social networking sites as people utilize them to construct their narrative for themselves and to connect with the community.
McNeil (2012) suggests that for a person to be successful on a social media site they need the help of their friends, preferably attractive ones that will display high levels of compliments on the social media site for everyone to see. “These responses, as textual or visual data, have permanence and are public, and because they invite response from the subject, they significantly shape the subject’s identity, and the stories she tells about herself and others.” (McNeil, 2012) This type of success people desire is easily found on Instagram. A user that has lots of followers also has lots of comments on their pictures stating how ‘perfect’, ‘stunning’, ‘amazing’ the user and their pictures are. 'Selfie' photographs trend 'puts children at risk of abuse' by Rosa Silverman raises issues about the increasing number of people taking 'selfies'. I have experienced random people start following me and positively comment on a couple of my pictures and because I do not reciprocate the action they un-follow me within a few days hence my success, if measured by the amount of followers one has, is definitely very low on the popularity scale.
References:McNeil, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. In Biography, 35(1), 101- 108.
Image credit: Griffith, C. (2013). White label communications blog: Building quality VoIP networks. Retrieved from https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTqzZI--28yeCzEyunA7wRJX724jRJqzr4OAd6LA9CcEy4QKeM
Discussing the topic of networked narratives, Instagram does - as you mentioned - allows any cyber flaneur to peer into the life of Instagram users to get a glimpse of their personal life narrative. Although this reference quotes on 'Facebook' these social network sites relate because of the common purpose.
ReplyDelete"Facebook builds on both human and posthuman concepts of the human subject in compelling, and arguably posthuman, life narratives, as its users produce and are produced by accounts of digital life."(Laurie, 2012)
Laurie, M. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82. doi: 10.1353/bio.2012.0009