The growth of Facebook and Instagram in particular has seen individuals begin to create a space where they are able to portray themselves in whichever light they choose, via the use of varying forms of information. Indeed, Marshall (2010) writes that ‘through new media forms, greater portions of the populace are now constructing online public personas,’ validating this assertion.
The varying types of material provided on these pages form what Marshall (2010) declares as an ‘entire new industry – an economy of circulating images, information, text, conversation and interpersonal exchanges – (which) has been built to service the now more pervasive and oddly democratic construction of public identities.’
An example of this construction of self is the profile picture a person chooses on Facebook. Often these are not a photo of them at all, but instead an image of someone they may idolise, a place they’ve been, a team they support, or a political party they follow. In selecting one of these an individual is able to express themselves in a way they otherwise might not have been able to if meeting a friend for a coffee for example.
Marshall (2010) gives strength to this claim, stating that as we move into the ‘specular economy’, collectively we ‘are becoming more conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us.’ In turn, this mirror approach to how individuals observe and portray themselves only fuels the already heightened awareness they have of their own and others’ activities.
Marshall, P 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502
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