We can all assume that a social media persona is different than that in real life. Writes Jonathan Crossfield in Chief Content Officer Magazine: “Strategy or no strategy, all social media is artifice and spin.”
No one is going to post in public what they Google in private. We’d rather tweet about playing 18 holes than reveal a Saturday afternoon doing the dishes.
We curate our avatars, acting like celebrities and influencers to build up our personal brands. Every piece of “content” is a sales opportunity.
If Instagram and Twitter present an edited version of life, reality is a theater full of false mirrors and digital half-truths.
We create the appearance of authenticity online
We invent polished experiences so we can share them. We manipulate the public microphone to project the best self, even if that ephemeral five-second clip disappears the next day.
All the internet’s a stage. As online entertainers, it is no surprise that we often fail to live up to the shinier version of ourselves offline. Screens provide neither knowledge nor truth — they are abstractions, ‘the map is not the territory‘ — so the personal image never gets accurately reflected.
We set the bar too high like the movies, performing a Hollywood script that injects a personal image into a mirror that we cannot touch.
Everybody contains two identities, one online (in theory) and one inescapable flesh. Amid worlds, deceit abounds, and the consistency dam breaks. So much for being the one that we are.
44 responses
What a nice post..
😊
Love it! Few are. Authenticity thrives.
Not sure it’s all a show, I do try to be real online as in real “life” 🙂
Fair enough 😉 Everything is perspective. Thx for chiming in.
Always appreciate the commentary — thank u Ritu!
I’ve actually seen my sister create meals for the sole purpose of posting the picture on IG. At first I thought she was crazy going through all that effort just for one post but then I realised she was still getting all the benefits of eating that healthy meal, and if she gets some encouragement/ positive reinforcement through IG then it can’t be that bad!
I like these moments of escapism that we carve from.our mundane lives!
By all means! #showyourwork
The internet’s a stage and I’d love to perform on it <3
http://thewiselark.karlacruzado.com
Wow I agree with you. The social media life is questionable
DOMINIKA GOODNESS BLOG
Snapchat was appealing because it showed the raw and real nature in someone’s life. Of course, IG stories is here to eat its lunch! I enjoy those folks who post to their feed but also give you IG story context behind the photo. #showyourwork
Good point Brianna 😉 I followed your ‘happy’ board on Pinterest for some more inspiration.
Good point; I enjoy those IG users who put context behind their photos using IG stories.
I read somewhere that said that the mundane becomes exciting once is “live”. I love when influencers share a their day to day lives on insta stories 🙂
I agree that the internet shows the positivity in everyone’s lives–what everyone is proud of. And I love that! 😊
That’s so very true, I’m so glad that we’re not all doing 24/7 coverage of our lives and instead choose to highlight certain snippets of life each day. While this isn’t reality and generally it’s the more polished parts of our day being shared, I’m ok with this as I use social media to learn and be inspired mostly around travel.
Right on!
It’s really true that we are all marketing a certain reflection of ourselves. Even when I edit photos for my blog or Instagram, the purpose is to create a certain perspective for others to see. I guess if everything is all a stage, may as well make a great performance
Feels good to be “you” sometimes
I agree. Most of us are caught up so much with conformity.
Thought her remark was interesting as well — https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2017/06/14/sheryl-sandberg-dont-need-personal-brand/#.tnw_shmb1ss4
So true, and a very important lesson to remember as not to get too wrapped up in all of it.
We taste the world with our eyes, as they say. Thx for the comment!
Sometimes, it’s a fine line between boring and authenticity…. Yes, we do need to edit out the boring stuff like what we had for dinner. Nobody cares. However, we still need to be true to our core values and self. Otherwise our readers will spot a fake a mile away.
Love this.. so so true!
I admired the raw self of Snapchat for a while until that too became a bit too scripted. Now I follow those accounts who post with a unique angle. If anything, the social networks have allowed the weird to be expressed to a much broader audience.
We definitely look much more polished with our airbrushed bios on our social media pages. Most people don’t expose their real struggles because no one wants to hear someone complain. We’d rather all hear humble braggers on social media platforms. 🙂
It’s a creative palette, no doubt. But I think more people get caught up in the me-ness business more often than the making.
What a lovely post. Yes, it would be a boring internet if it was real life, it is our little moment of escape xx