Final Project: Summative Statement[Fa/mous]: “adj.:known about by many people.” Today anyone can become famous for literally anything. While some individuals become celebrities for completing a task or achieving a goal -- a firefighter saves a family; a lawyer saves an innocent child, etc. -- today, individuals are also becoming celebrities in the world of online media. Furthermore, now in 2017, the definition of the world famous has become extremely malleable; individuals no longer needs to be the star of a million dollar box office hit, to be considered famous. Now, YouTuber’s and Instagram bloggers have defined a new way to define fame. Alice E. Marwick’s is a famous author who questions the notions of how micro-celebrity and fame are discussed and perceived in 2017. Marwick, the author of “You May Know Me From YouTube: (Micro)-Celebrity in Social Media,” and “Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy” brings to light how social media platforms, such as Instagram, have created new and appropriate norms on the notions of Instafame and micro-celebrity. In “Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy,” On the one hand, Marwick describes Instafame as a variation of micro-celebrity as said phenomenon exists on a type of platform, such as Instagram. On the other hand, Marwick explains micro-celebrity as a mindset, implying that he or she must present oneself on social media, in order to strategically create an aesthetic profile in hopes of resonating with his or her followers to reveal information to increase personal attention, and ultimately improve his or her online status. In this article, Marwick also highlights the difference between achieving micro-celebrity via images versus words. “...The Internet is increasingly a visual medium, and more and more individuals are using images rather than written self-descriptions to express themselves. Due to the photographic nature of the medium, Instagram users’ approach to micro-celebrity differs from that of users of platforms such as early webcams, blogs, and Twitter, which scholars, including myself, have previously written about (Senft 2008; Marwick and boyd 2011b).” I feel spotlighting the power of images is important not only does because utilizing pictures allows for creative expression online, but incorporating images also allows for greater personalization, especially in terms of fashion blogging. Marwick’s article, “You May Know Me From YouTube: (Micro)-Celebrity in Social Media,” introduces the idea that social media enables the practice of micro-celebrity. In this article, Marwick defines micro-celebrity as, “A self-presentation technique in which people view themselves as a public persona in order to be consumed by others; use strategic intimacy to appeal to followers; and regard their audiences as fans (Marwick and boyd 2011b; Senft 2008; Senft 2013).” Marwick clarifies that, to be a micro-celebrity, one can still title themselves as a micro-celebrity even if he or she has a very small number of followers. Today, such “micro-celebrities might include fashion bloggers, food bloggers, activists, Vine comedians with millions of views; or simply Twitter users who treat their followers like valued fans. (Marwick and boyd 2011b; Senft 2008; Senft 2013).” Therefore, for my final project I wanted to experiment with attempting to become a micro-celebrity on Instagram by creating my own fashion account titled “Beauty and the Blonde.” My hope for my final project is to question and analyze if and how fame can be achieved via a social media platform, such as Instagram, as opposed to the more stereotypical ways of achieving celebrity, such as appearing in commercials, television shows, movies, the news, etc. The first step of my project was to analyze five differing fashion/lifestyle bloggers on Instagram: Something Navy, We Wore What, Man Repeller, Chiara Ferragni (The Blonde Salad) and Julie Sarinana (Sincerely Jules). After I studied the differences, similarities, trends and patterns on their Instagram accounts, I created my own fashion Instagram account, titled "Beauty and the Blonde. By creating a self referential fashion blog, not only do I have the ability to continue to grow my social media presence in order to continue to understand micro-celebrity, but I also have the ability to understand if and why social media platforms, Instagram specifically, inspire, shape, and influence, individuals, as well. I then created the physical Instagram account and online domain titled “Beauty and the Blonde.” At first, my original idea, was to title this domain “The Blonde Ambition,” but I was soon informed that this name was already associated with the pop artist, Madonna. Therefore, after spending time thinking about how I wanted to portray myself online, I went with “Beauty and the Blonde,” as I appreciated that particular play on words. My next steps were to put together fashion forward outfits and be photographed in them. I then uploaded the image I liked most, edited the image, and tagged the brands of the articles of clothing I was wearing. At first, I took pictures of my outfits in my floor-length mirror, but after analyzing the my selected bloggers, I noticed most all of the images they posted were taken of them, as this style of photography appears more professional. To attempt to enhance my accounts views, I added trending and high volume hashtags in my comments (such as #ootd, #mood, etc.) to attract more viewers in order to attempt to achieve even the slightest status of micro-celebrity. From my research, I felt I resonated the most with Chiara Ferragni’s Instagram and after extracting research from Klear.com I feel my audience demographic would most be most similar to hers, appealing to an audience of approximately 82% women, averaging around the age of 27, making an approximate income of $43,000 annually, who have a passion for fashion, blogging and social media. Additionally, by analyzing and attempting to mimic acclaimed Instagram fashion bloggers, it was my goal to demonstrate the power and influence these individuals have, via their social media platforms, and reveal how corporate companies, in return, can also profit from these unpaid and up and coming influencers. Successful fashion bloggers are paid to promote clothing brands, styles and pieces, and it would be my ultimate goal for “Beauty and the Blonde” to one day be paid, as I feel this would be one way in which I could achieve the status of micro-celebrity. In the future, as I continue to grow this account, I hope “Beauty and the Blonde” appeals to any individual who is interested in enhancing his or her everyday street wear. Additionally, in the future, I hope to incorporate a consistent color / layout pattern throughout my Instagram page; create a continuous and visually appealing “flow” between my personal posts; attempt to use a professional camera and not an iPhone camera to enhance the quality of my image; and, make sure I do not repeat an outfit on my account. Throughout the semester, my class, my peers and myself analyzed and dissected the question “Are you a gadget?” Due to the fact that I am presenting myself via a social media application, only accessible via technology and gadgetry, I feel I am at least an extension of a gadget, as I am hoping people will view me via my lens of “The Beauty and the Blonde.” To conclude, my goal in creating “Beauty and the Blonde” ultimately was not simply to achieve the status of celebrity or even micro-celebrity, but more so to express myself via my style and influence others to be inspired by the latest fashion trends, as well. (1,235 words.)
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It isn't easy being a millennial. Today, one is described as a millennial if he or she is born between the years of if he or she is 1981 and 1997. Recently, millennials have become negatively stereotyped. To name a few, millennials are notorious for being addicted to any and all forms of gadgets and screens; millennials are narcissists; millennials are over-medicated; millennials crave recognition; millennials are shallow; millennials are indecisive; millennials are promiscuous; millennials are losing religion; millennials are too sensitive, etc. (Generalized millennial labels were taken from the podcast "Millennial Scumbags", which was a source of inspiration for my podcast idea.) Due to the fact that many generalizations have been placed upon this grouping of young individuals, I feel it is important to create a survival guide on "how-to-survive" growing up as a millennial. Therefore, this podcast titled "Growing Up Millennial" will be a survival guide utilizing a "how-to" talking model, providing millennials with tricks on how to overcome and navigate the hardest challenges said generation faces.
To summarize, "Growing Up Millennial" will include survival tips such as "Have a Hobby", "Delete a Social Media Account", "Detach Before Bed", "It's Cool to be Independent, " etc. The "Have a Hobby" podcast will spotlight the importance of having a hobby, working a part time job, volunteering, etc. Not only is it important for millennials to not solely focus on academics as work ethic and personal growth are paramount to millennials today, but by doing such, millennials are provided with an outlet that is different than simply going to school and remaining within one group of friends. Growing up, I personally, was a competitive gymnast, and my gymnastics world became my escape -- none of my teammates went to school with me, I exercised, released energy and physical detached myself from school and/or friend related drama. The episode "Delete a Social Media Account" pinpoints the importance of spending less time in front of screens. Not only do screens take away from face-to-face interaction, but social media applications, such as Snapchat, have psychologically proven to be one of, if not, the greatest cause of exclusion, selectivity, jealousy, etc. Studies reveal that social media applications, such as Snapchat, bring about more feelings of negativity and anxiety, than feelings of positivity. "Detach Before Bed" identifies the importance of journaling or meditating before bed. Not only does a lessening of interaction with technology aid individual's REM cycles during his or her sleep, but individuals who journal or meditate prior to going to sleep feel a greater sense of daily satisfaction and overall peace and harmony. Lastly, "It's Cool to Be Independent" emphasizes the importance of being independent. Today, millennials feel they have to do everything, be everywhere and never say no to anything, but it is important to distinguish what you want to do versus what a peer or friend may want to do. And, being independent and one-of-a-kind is cool. Episode Example: "Delete a Social Media Account" Hi everyone! Welcome to "Growing Up Millennial; a weekly podcast produced by Hayley Alperin guiding millennials on how to survive “growing up millennial.” On today's podcast, I will be contemplating and discussing the importance of limiting millennials daily intake of social media. To be honest, I am not even too sure how millennials upkeep and maintain so many differing social media platforms -- I personally only have a Facebook and an Instagram and find just those two applications to be time consuming. Anyways, ever since I was introduced to the application "Snapchat", I have had a bipolar relationship with it. Originally, I was perplexed as to what the purpose was of sending a picture or a "snap" that could only last up to ten seconds. Then, after spending more time interacting with Snapchat, I began to understands it's appeal. Snapchat was fun. Over it's time, Snapchat has introduced filters, geotags, locations, trends, etc. and when an individual can understand and can manipulate the application to interact these trends (unfortunately I am not the best at Snapchat), he or she then feels accomplished and part of an elite generation connected with his or her technology. How can one not enjoy Snapchat when the filters they embed into their programming make humans look flawless? To me, and my friend group, Snapchat literally felt like "one of us." Snapchat, literally became a friend. Snapchat would be invited to a party, but certain people would not be. That is when I began to realize the darker sides not only of just Snapchat, but of social media, as well. Similarly, one entity of Snapchat which I felt was more harmful than helpful was the "best friend" tracker. Not only did this reveal who individuals were "snapping" the most, but I personally have witnessed this tracking system break up friendships and destroy healthy relationships, as well. To me, no 10-second selfie of myself in animated pig or reindeer ears is worth jeopardizing a friendship. Snapchat also feels like a facade. The original beauty of Snapchat was that images and videos could only last 10 seconds so, even if one was videotaping themselves dancing at a club for ten seconds -- even if he or she had a miserable night -- to all of his or her "friends" on Snapchat, people will assume he or she had the best night ever. This causes FOMO (fear of missing out.) I can not tell you how many times I have been upset due to FOMO. Even if I was invited to a particular event, but not included in someone’s Snapchat story, I, and others similar to myself, still felt excluded. Additionally, with Snapchat, there is no sense of privacy. I know I do not want to see what breakfast all of my friends are eating, and I am sure most of my friends do not want to see what shoes I am trying on. Similarly, why do I want to see dinners, parties, pregame and events I am not invited too? What fun is that? Therefore, I can not recommend more than to delete one form of social media that has more of a negative presence in your life than a positive presence in your life. Not only will this grant you more time to work on something else you have wanted to work on -- for me, I use the time I would have been on Snapchat to keep myself informed with what was going on in today's current events and political discussions. Worse comes to worse, if you delete it and you miss it, you can always download it again, as millennials are known for desiring instant gratification after all! But I guarantee you, you will not regret it! In fact, I bet you will even be happier and more at peace with your relationship with technology and other individuals, as well! So why not give it a try? Next week on “Growing Up Millennial, I will be discussing the importance of detaching with technology before bed, don’t miss out! Talk to you all then! Good luck out there, millennials! |
Hayley AlperinSenior at Emory University, Media Studies major, Archives |
Photo used under Creative Commons from IQRemix