Producing these artefacts and conducting my own small scale research has most definitely altered my understanding of social media. I am a frequent user of social media myself, thus I figured that I’d be well equipped within this realm, however, I had discovered that there is still so much left to examine.

I purposefully concluded my study by questioning participants whether they themselves believe that these images contribute to a larger societal issue, such as perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards, 97% agreed. This further demonstrates how social media can be a very powerful tool in shifting societal norms.

Implications include:

Urging social media ‘stars’/ content creators to be more truthful with lifestyle choices/ appearances. Social media began as a platform to share aspects of your life with others, thus it appears to be a quintessential medium of which to present an unfaithful portrayal yet still have it remain believable. It evokes a sense of realism yet in actuality individuals tend to exhibit a very skewed portrayal. Advertising groups have recognised this sense of trust and closeness established by the content creator and their followers, thus have quickly adapted in accordance and have cleverly harnessed the existing relationship in order to bolster sales. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guidelines, influencers must disclose any time they are endorsing a product because of a paid partnership or personal affiliation with the brand. However, this declaration can be somewhat unclear and this can be difficult for social media platforms to closely monitor. Due to this, vulnerable users will continue to believe that they require a product in order to be considered desirable/ acceptable. Henceforth, more diverse and realistic representations of beauty must be placed forefront on social media.

Ultimately, more education on social media should also be conducted in order to help users better understand its potential negative implications. Social media is a growing force, it allows content to be easily accessible and directly visible on a large array of modes. The internet also acts as a democratising tool, whereby the normalisation of this medium has permitted anonymous individuals to exchange user-generated content, providing a shared space that encourages a greater quantity of users to partake in affective engagements. Research only further indicates a long-term trend toward our dependence upon this medium and claims of it further becoming a social norm, thus users must better understand that how it operates in actuality can be very different to how it may appear.

 

Preliminary research intermingled with prototypes created for purposes of assignment 2 has aided me greatly in producing my final media artefacts. I only hope to have actualised a piece of work that is both engaging and enlightening for viewers. 

You can view the entire study here!

I have created varying scenes that act as an attempt to emulate the romanticised portrayals of reality commonly exhibited on social media. Through this exploration, I intended to examine how social media possess the modal capacity to grant many benefits, yet also facilitate involvement in social exclusion, harassment, unrealistic standards and outside influence of third-party advertising groups. Marketing that exploits feelings of inadequacy for profit is not at all an unfamiliar notion, however, remains unturned. I wanted to closely examine its effects on social media users

In accordance with research conducted in a precursory blog post, I intended to target a younger age bracket being within 18-24 years of age and female. As I have been examining Individuals who hold extreme desires to comply with social pressures, which I have found to be particularly existent within this group of individuals. As research demonstrates, when insecure these individuals tend to turn to excess and overcompensation. Brands will then utilise these negative feelings in order to bolster sales. 

I have composed a sample size of 30 willing participants, all were female aged between 18-24 years of age. They were prompted to answer a series of multiple-choice questions, then provide a correspondingly short answer response. Questions referred to their personal engagement with social media and were given these images as reference. 

I have hypothesised that engagement with said social media artefacts exhibited on Instagram will have a negative effect on social media users. However, I was particularly interested in how the individuals would then choose to engage with the content, regardless of its adverse effects. 

Upon creating an Instagram profile, I attempted to emulate the appearance of many other social media creators in order to ‘blend in’ as much as possible. These images have been highly orchestrated for the purposes of this research, thus fake body, skin, background, accessories and so forth.  

My findings show that most individuals believed that these artefacts were a truthful depiction of life. They overlooked many features which may suggest that this image had been altered. 

I have discovered that the purposeful use of aestheticism and beauty does in actuality have an effect on user desirability, attention and ultimately engagement with social media posts. In regard to utilising this as a social media marketing technique, this appears to work favourably. This research supports previous claims of these individuals then turning to overcompensation upon engaging with this content, as they would either follow, like, comment or perhaps make a purchase. 

When examining my findings I found varying words in which stood out to me, words such as insecure, jealous, envious and self-conscious, all terms used for self-depreciation. Such content has also proven to be quite frequent on social media, further suggesting that the growth of user interactivity has most definitely come with many ramifications.

Follow along to post #2 

Find the process here!

The posts have been split into two divisions.

POST 1 = The research

POST 2 = The implications of the research

Instagram account

POST #4

Devise a social media strategy that explains how you can engage your audience.

My social media strategy that I intend to illustrate and use to engage my target audience is an attempt to emulate a scene that many brands and social media stars produce in order to ‘show off’ a romanticised/false portrayal of reality.

The initial question that I had posed was whether utilising social media as a platform (a medium known for promoting falsity) to evoke feelings of inadequacy truly bolster sales performance? I intend to produce an example of this and examine in what way my target audience (18-24 year old females) engages with said media.

In order to examine this example in relation to my research and questioning, I must exhibit a subject where their appearance aligns with a conventional beauty ideal. I will not only need to significantly edit the appearance of my subject yet also the environment in which they are within. This has been done in order to evoke a sense of romanticisation/ desirability, seizing audience attention and creating engagement with the social media posts.

In order to do this, firstly I will need to capture varying photos of a subject, however, under the restraints of social isolation, I will need to get a little more creative. After initial concerns, I then figured that this would be a great opportunity to reveal how easily something like this can be executed. Intentionally using as little resources as possible, these images are entirely staged and heavily edited, alike a lot of what can be found on social media. 

In order to engage my audience, I must pay close consideration to beauty and aestheticism. Like I had discussed in an earlier post, young females tend to be more concerned with the way in which something appears. The images must portray a perfect environment with a perfect subject, yet in actuality these images couldn’t be further from that.

 

POST #3

Propose a platform or platforms that is/are relevant to your target audience.

The most practical social media platforms for my work which are deemed most relevant to my target audience is Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Henceforth, I will be utilising the top three most popular social media platforms for my forthcoming work. 

Brand interactivity across social media platforms is imperative to consumer relationships as two thirds of consumers (64%) will be more likely to trust a brand if they interact with users on social media, this also being an increase from preceding years. 

Sensis data reveals that Facebook is the more dominant social media platform with 91% of users maintaining a Facebook profile. Selecting Facebook as a relevant platform is almost entirely due to its popularity across the entire gender and age divide thus doesn’t necessarily correspond with my chosen target audience. However, data suggests that females do use Facebook for a longer time than males on each usage occasion, a notable piece of information for my research.  

Youtube is just below Facebook in popularity as slightly more than half the consumers use this platform. In accordance to my target audience, its appeal declines with age and over twice as many 18-29 use this platform than the 65 plus cohort. 

Furthermore, I will also be utilising Instagram as it is below Youtube in user popularity. Most notably, Instagram usage is predominately female (44%) compared to male (34%).

In terms of social media usage for sales purposes, in regard to both Instagram and Facebook users 44% and 39% respectively follow brands or businesses on that platform. Yet above average in this behaviour for both platforms are females and those aged 18-29 which is my selected target audience. 

 

POST #2

Identify a specific target audience informed by an analysis of the Sensis data.

In accordance with my findings from the Sensis data report, I would like to target a younger age bracket being within 18-24 years of age and female. I have made this selection as the report suggests that usage and frequency of social media sites tend to decline with age, as within the past five years the number of adolescents using such sites have increased dramatically. In addition to this, females are also more frequent users as 41% of females access social media more than five times a day compared to the 26% of males.

Studies examined within earlier posts have demonstrated the significant effects of social media upon us at this time. There is an evident sustained growth in demand, as 88% of online consumers now utilise social media, being an increase from preceding years. Social media is a growing force which facilitates both the online creation and exchange of content, allowing consumers to easily communicate with others about products, services, and brands that are available within the marketplace. According to the Sensis data more than four in ten consumers (44%) are following businesses or brands via social media, also showing an increase from previous years. Moreover, this study shows that females (52%) are following brands or businesses much more than males (35%) and this behaviour tends to decline with age. Those aged 18-29 are more than four times as likely to follow brands or businesses on social media than the 65 plus age group (64% to 13%). This research aligns with my chosen target audience as young females (18-24) appear to be much more involved within the social media facilitated marketplace. 

Furthermore, young females reported more personal dissatisfaction and disordered eating than males (MacNeil & Best & Davis, 2017). This being my target audience, I would like to further examine the effects of social media based advertising as they tend to be the age group most affected by body image concerns (being relevant to my question posed in the previous post). This compliance with social pressures is what advertising groups appear to use to their benefit, whereby advertising groups employ varying marketing strategies to profit off of these false inadequacies felt by social media users within this targeted audience. 

 

 

 

 

POST #1

Pose a question that you will answer with your social media strategy and posts.

The question that I would like to answer with my chosen social media strategy and subsequent posts is how effective social media advertising can be when exploitative of user insecurity. Does utilising social media as a platform, a medium known for promoting falsity, with the intent to evoke feelings of inadequacy truly bolster sales performance? 

In the same vein as what I had discussed in an earlier post and with this question in mind, ultimately I would like to examine the association between self insecurity and social media use. Individuals who have extreme desires to comply with social pressures, which through preliminary research I have found to be particularly existent within the younger age bracket. Individuals such as these tend to turn to excess and overcompensation when doubtful and brands utilise this self-doubt to their avail. According to Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson and Council on Communications and Media, using social media is among the most common activities of today’s children and adolescents. Within the past five years, the number of adolescents using such sites has increased dramatically. However, due to their “limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure” (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011), they are seen as at risk. 

In order to combat this I would like to first better understand it, is it a truly effective sales methodology? What are the ethical considerations of preying upon the vulnerable/insecure?

How does this form of advertising utilise social media as a vessel to encourage individuals to make purchases due to feelings of inadequacy? Furthermore, should this marketing in which exploits insecurity for profit have a place on social media as a platform?

 

 

POST #1

POST #2

POST #3

POST #4

Series of social media examples:

 

 

I found that the discovery of this data has allowed me to apply such information to stimulating social discourse with others. I most definitely intend to utilise my deepened understanding of social media for my work to come. What I believe to be the most notable piece of data from The Yellow Social Media report is the sustained growth in demand, as 88% of online consumers utilise social media, being an increase from last year. In correlation, not only has this data shown an increase in social media usage yet it revealed its more frequent users to be among the younger age bracket. In the same vein as what I had discussed in an earlier post, whilst the growth of social media has granted many benefits, the growth of user interactivity has most definitely come with many ramifications.

Within a period of appetite suppressants, diuretics, laxatives, purging, caffeine and restriction faltering beneath the guise of beauty. Social media presents a skewed portrayal of reality, an unattainable, non-existent, artifice. I would like to further research this and utilise my findings to combat this issue. Data suggests growth in popularity and particularly amongst a younger market. Thus vulnerable members of society (such as the youth) feel as if they must comply with social pressures, which advertising groups use to their benefit. This study has also found that two-thirds of consumers (64%) will be more likely to trust a brand if they interact with consumers on social media, this also being an increase from preceding years. Eating concerns tend to be multifactorial, however, exposure to social media is considered to be a large contributor. In forthcoming work, I would like to closely examine associations between eating concerns and social media use. Furthermore, to better understand how advertising groups employ varying marketing strategies in order to profit off of the false inadequacies felt by social media users.

An example of social media in which I find to be quite challenging would be a form of product placement that encourages individuals to make purchases due to feelings of inadequacy. Marketing that exploits insecurity for profit is not an unfamiliar notion, however, I would like to research this further. What are the ethical considerations of preying upon the vulnerable, if any? Individuals tend to turn to excess and overcompensation when doubtful and brands utilise this self-doubt to their avail. An example of this is Kim Kardashian, a prominent figure on social media urging followers to purchase appetite suppressants, a product of Flat Tummy Co. (Link embedded here). 

Despite the multitude of research against such products, not only do eminent social media ‘stars’ continue to promote these brands, however, these brands continue to turn a profit off of the insecurities and belief of false inadequacies by consumers. Upon further research, I would like to better understand this methodology as it seems to be quite prominent within social media marketing. I consider this notion to be quite challenging as it relies upon the fragility and vulnerability of society to prosper.