Hashtag Your Way to Power: A Guide to Filter out Your Flaws

Hashtag Your Way to Power: A Guide to Filter out Your Flaws

Image 1: iPhone with a user’s profile shown. Pixabay.com

 “The grass is always greener on the other side” is a simple proverb that describes the envy humans can get when they see someone with a ‘better’ life. In the modern age, it has become incredibly easy to create a representation of ourselves and our lives, one that may not be entirely true. Through following unspoken rules and guidelines, people can present themselves however they want.

Instagram is a photo sharing app that was launched in October 2010, and is essentially a visual diary or blog (McNeill, 2009). Users can post photos and accompanying captions, then group their photos into related categories, forming hubs of connected accounts.

Within the Instagram community, there are unspoken rules that hold a potential to gain power. This is a space that is experienced through symbols, in which people grow their self and community identity and turn the Internet into a place (Kuttainen, 2016). In a public profile, one can hashtag their photographs with keywords such as: ‘Follow for Follow’ or ‘Like for Like’. While the average user may throw a simple filter on top of their photograph, others cultivate steady profiles with a certain aesthetic. Taking ten minutes to perfect the lighting around a coffee seems ridiculous, but it has become an unspoken convention that Instagram is a place of elite images.

We can unknowingly spread emotions through what we post, something that Nicholas Christakis notes in his 2010 TED talk: “When we have emotions, we show them… and not only do we show them, but others can read them… they copy them.” Showing our emotions, whether they are filtered or not, can force others to feel them too.

While the grass may seem greener for everyone else online, it is vital to remember that the ‘green’ may be from a filter. How people present themselves online can create a place of power, but also a community that impacts real lives. It will be vital to remember this while exploring networks and hubs.

References:

Christakis, N. [TED2010]. (2010, February).  The hidden influence of social networks. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of place, week 3 [PowerPoint slides: 21/30] Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2009). Diary 2.0?: A Genre Moves from Page to Screen. In Rowe. C, & Wyss. E.L. (Eds.), Language and New Media: Linguistic, Cultural, and Technological Evolution (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.

Wokandapix. (CC0 Public Domain.) iPhone with Instagram profile. Retrieved from

https://pixabay.com/en/users/Wokandapix-614097/

By Néa O'Connor, 2016.