The emergence of modern technologies has revolutionized the way celebrities, Internet users, and marketers pursue their objectives. Within the past decade, several social media platforms have emerged that make it possible for people to share ideas with others, communicate, and engage in personal branding. The proliferation of such platforms means that more individuals will identify new trends in an attempt to achieve their career goals. Unfortunately, these innovations have specific drawbacks that might make them unreliable sources of information or data. The purpose of this essay is to describe how editors and designers choose what to bring to the foreground or hide in the background in an effort to create the most appropriate self-representations with the realm of self-branding on social media.
Background Information
Branding has remained a core concept in the world of business since companies and marketers rely on it to showcase the superiorities of their services and brands. Professionals who embrace such an approach effectively tend to have increased chances of recording positive results. Celebrities, editors, and designers go further to rely on the same idea to engage in a practice called personal branding. Hogan (2010) defines “personal branding” as a strategy through which firms and agencies promote people’s careers as unique brands. Most of the stakeholders in this field consider some of the best initiatives to maintain or retain a desirable impression or reputation. This field is attracting more people who want to succeed as music producers, artists, scholars, journalists, or celebrities.
This trend has expanded to include the majority of individuals who want to share ideas, their images, photographs, and skills with their respective followers. This development is what has resulted in the massive use of different platforms as a way of overcoming the level of competition (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Many users have mastered the art of ensuring that their public images reflect their unique values, principles, achievements, and reputation. However, sociologists and marketing theorists have managed to present divergent views regarding what happens behind the scenes to ensure that the intended personal brand is realized and maintained.
Discussion and Critical Analysis
The attributes of social media have made it likable and reliable to many people in different parts of the world. Faleatua (2018) uses the concept of authentic self-branding to describe the manner in which artists and users of the Internet disclose their real or true selves as a form of personal branding. Using the example of the increasing number of young women who utilize Instagram frequently, the study revealed thathe t majority of them only presented images and photographs that impacted the emotions of their respective followeanin the anticipated manner (Faleatua, 2018). The analysis of the works or information obtained from such platforms could not give an accurate analysis of the lives and experiences of the targeted individuals. The outcome is that the problem of non-authentic self-branding has become a pervasive challenge that followers of different artists and celebrities should examine carefully in order to avoid potential challenges that might merge in their future careers.
In the article “Strategic Self-Presentation Online: A Cross-Cultural Study”, Rui and Stefanone (2013) managed to present new insights regarding the way different individuals were relying on social media to relate with others. Using the example of individuals from Singapore and America, the study showed that the nature of the presented photos and their attractiveness determined the tendency to ‘friend’ or ‘unfriend’ any unknown follower or person on the wider social media platform. Rui and Stefanone (2013) also observed that the cultural identities of the people influenced such a practice. Individuals from various backgrounds would portray diverse tendencies when using the Internet and sharing photographs with others. This kind of behavior was worth noting in order to understand how users from the different parts of the world engaged in either authentic or unauthentic social media self-branding.
Different platforms have become essential since they empower individuals to make self-made curators who are able to place updates, tag photos, and share moments with their friends and followers. The users of the Internet find it easier to determine who views or shares their photographs. More people on various social media platforms have the autonomy to employ the power of exhibition to select the most appropriate images and situational activities (Hogan, 2010). They would also determine the way they chat with their social media friends or followers. Since the user has the authority to control the virtual content available to other people, it has become possible to dictate the content available to the viewer. For celebrities and famous people, the same practice has become common since they focus on the most approaches to ensure that the intended messages and ideas are relayed to the targeted readers.
Impression management has become a new reality in this era of increased reliance on social media platforms and networks. Morris and Murray (2018) indicate that the owner of a given account has the authority to create a profile and make it as interesting as possible to the targeted follower and viewer. This form of control has encouraged more individuals to monitor the content carefully and make sure that it delivers the intended objectives or messages. The user relies on the available online resources to retain the integrity of his or her identity. The individual can go further to upload more photographs and memories that can take the followers by surprise (Iqani & Schroeder, 2016). Consequently, it becomes quite clear that creators and designers ea ngage in checksround check to ensure that whatever gets to the viewer is carefully selected and capable of delivering “a positive portrayal of oneself” (Quinn & Papacharissi, 2014, p. 162). Due to the nature of various social media platforms, some people collude with their friends, relatives, and workmates to add desirable comments and tags on the selected photos or updates. Such an initiative plays a positive role in delivering the intended impression or picture to the viewers of the individual’s page.
The issue of attractiveness remains a critical concept that dictates the manner in which human beings identify potential romantic partners and friends. In this modernizing world, attributes of social mobility and class dominate human discussions and objectives in life. Many social media users have understood how to play with the available platforms to send the intended images and information to other members of the society (Khamis et al., 2016). They do so by ensuring that their colleagues appreciate their achievements and experiences in life. Such an approach encourages more individuals to dictate and select the quality of visual information available to other users. Quinn and Papacharissi (2014) present the issue of physical attractiveness to describe how people get more ratings or reviews on the profiles. When a social media user records high scores in this area, he or she can succeed establishing additional virtual relationships and succeed in maintaining them (Hogan, 2010). These gains have become critical influencers of the specific behaviors many people would portray when relying on the use of social media platforms.
The psychological aspect associated with the overuse of the Internet is a field that many scholars have not taken lightly. For instance, Iqani and Schroeder (2016) observed that selfies had become a new fad in different parts of the world. Many people have found essential or useful for sharing stories and communicating with other members of their social classes or followers. However, their exhibitions on various social media profiles are powerful developments that have been observed to trigger numerous security, privacy, and identity questions (Iqani & Schroeder, 2016). The use of selfies has become a strategic shift from the manner in which people used to advertise themselves on various applications. They continue to provide additional information about users’ lives, experiences, social groups, and pursuits in life (Iqani & Schroeder, 2016). Unfortunately, those who rely on them have gone further to offer misleading images about their lives and goals in life. Such an issue has become a reality since the owners of social media have the autonomy to control whatever is shared or is available to the users. This shift indicates that selfies will become powerful tools for recording people’s histories, achievements, and even joyous moments.
Some scholars have examined the relationship between social media and self-branding to expose the dangers that many people stand to face in their lives. For instance, Khamis eta al. (201checksserved such a practice was becoming unethical because many users were relying on it to portray themselves as successful members of the society. Some celebrities were utilizing social media to engage in self-branding and attract more followers (Duffy & Pruchniewska, 2017). While such an approach is capable of delivering positive results and profits to them, the audience or viewers are usually unable to get a true picture of experiences and quality of lives of such famous people. This kind of malpractice explains why who those who use social media for branding purposes have disoriented the original principles of marketing (Duffy & Pruchniewska, 2017). This gap explains why some policymakers and experts have been keen to propose new laws that can ensure that more information that is available on social media platforms is monitored, controlled, and censured. This approach is essential and capable of maintaining the original purpose or integrity of self-branding.
Within the field of the arts, actors, painters, and poets have been keen to deliver the right messages to their followers and eventually attract or develop the needed followership. Unfortunately, social media and the Internet have become synergistic resources that have revolutionized the way more professionals want to change the playing ground. According to Wee and Brooks (2014), some actors have managed to use such platforms “to display appropriate forms of reflexivity” (p. 45). This achievement has made it possible or easier for more designers or editors to receive special treatment or reception from their followers and other professionals. They focus on their inspirational works and attract more people to like them, thereby increasing their scores on such social media platforms. Individuals or artists who fail to consider this nature of self-branding eventually find it hard to become famous or get more followers.
From these descriptions, it is evident that meritocracy has become a critical attribute of postfeminism. The discourses revolving around these developments have empowered more people, especially women, to utilize the available resources to pursue notions of individualism. They have interlinked their failures and successes in an attempt to promote a new identity within the realm of social media (Duffy & Pruchniewska, 2017). With the existence of numerous cultural differences and inequalities, the use of social networks has become the new normal to edit and achieve the goals of impression management. Similarly, the example of many politicians and individuals in need of elective positions reveal how the need to create and portray the most appropriate self-representation has become a reality today.
Conclusion
The above discussion has revealed that social media has made every user a curator in his or her own right. It is agreeable that all people on such platforms can become editors and designers and engage in self-branding to achieve their personal or professional goals. While doing so, the greatest number of social media users understands how to bring to the foreground what is attractive or hide in the background what appears inappropriate in an effort to create the most appropriate self-representations within the realm of social media self-branding. All followers should, therefore, be aware of this new reality in order to make the best decisions and use these innovative resources in a beneficial manner. Users can also reconsider the principles of personal branding and deliver accurate images that can make their gains sustainable and realistic.
References
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- Duffy, B. E., & Pruchniewska, U. (2017). Gender and self-enterprise in the social media age: A digital double bind. Information, Communication & Society.
- Faleatua, R. (2018). Insta brand me: Playing with notions of authenticity. Continuum, 32(6), 721-732.
- Hogan, B. (2010). The presentation of self in the age of social media: Distinguishing performances and exhibitions online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(6), 377-386.
- Iqani, M., & Schroeder, J. E. (2016). #Selfie: Digital self-portraits as commodity form and consumption practice. Consumption Markets & Culture, 19(5), 405-415.
- Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2016). Selfbranding, ‘micro-celebrity’ and the rise of social media influencers. Celebrity Studies.
- Morris, J. W., & Murray, S. (Eds). (2018). Applied: Culture in the age of apps. University of Michigan Press.
- Quinn, K., & Papacharissi, Z. (2014). The place where our social networks reside: Social media and sociality. In M. B. Oliver & A. A. Raney (Eds.), Media and social life (pp. 159-207). Routledge.
- Rui, J., & Stefanone, M. A. (2013). Strategic self-presentation online: A cross-cultural study. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 110-118. Web.
- Wee, L., & Brooks, A. (2014). Personal branding and the commodification of reflexivity. Cultural Sociology, 4(1), 45-62.