Welcome to the digital world we call home.
Social media is a filtered lie; however, we are still obsessed with it.
The national average amount of time spent on social media is 2hr 41mins a day (Chaffey 2021).
I joined Instagram in 2013, my feed was full of mirror selfies, dog memes and pictures of our matching shoes. Fast forward nearly 10 years, Instagram is a 24/7 networking app, full of edited, filtered, and sponsored posts.
Essentially, Instagram has grown up with us… and boy it had a glow up!
In the business world Instagram is the ‘latest secret weapon’. Get it right and your business will succeed, get it wrong and potential overnight disaster! As I explained social media is not simple… (Marketing 2013).
Within the Events Industry 88% of marketing professionals use social media (Caramura 2021). It has the power to make or break events- E.g. - COVID-19. Overnight, the industry stopped, however the digital world exploded and transformed it (Costa 2020).
What is a Façade?
‘An object that serves as a front-facing interface masking more complex underlying or structural code.’ (Collins 2022).
A lie that hides reality, a snapshot of one second, in one minute, in one hour, of one day, staged, paid, forced and a fake version of reality.
What created this new phenomenon?
= The Influencer Culture (TEDx Talks 2017).
An industry worth over £2.1 billion (Statistics 2021), celebrities live their life purely off the earnings on social media. Cristiano Ronaldo, the highest paid influencer earns $1m per post, Dwayne Johnson comes in a close second (Geyser 2019).
Influencers have skyrocketed in the last 10 years, its formula for success has been inherited by us. We crave the same as these celebrities….to be seen by Instagram.
Influencers create the perfect life, everything is picture perfect, every image is pristine. Is this as perfect as we think it is?
Simply…. no!
(O’Neill 2022)
Essena O’Neill, an 18-year Instagram model has re-captioned her posts telling the truth about what really happened behind the scenes, some are very moving and spotlighting the reality of modelling.
(Patterson 2022)
Vicky Patterson, also an influencer, is more honest. She uses her position to slowly break down this façade. She shows both sides, not every day is perfect, she has bad days.
Social media is my job, I use paid ads, effective hash tags and editing apps to compete in the current market.
‘Sustainable marketing is the promotion of socially responsible products, services and practices’
(HubSpot 2019)
Customers, employers, and society are programmed to expect nothing less than perfection, and posting the raw truth is a risky game. Social Media can make or break a brand (Shadeed 2019).
You might find this article interesting…
(Amendola 2022)
There is a beauty to social media; you can carve the perfect image, show people exactly what you want them to see. Posts are controlled entirely by you, you decide what to say and what pictures to use. However, is it healthy to not be yourself, how long can you deliver this façade?
(Instagram 2022)
One of my Instagram posts showing a family celebration.
Upon initial appearance you see a young smiling couple living their best life, happy and having fun.
In reality, this was one of my lowest days. I was struggling. I was fighting to keep going, every inch of my body wanted to curl in a ball. Also moving into my Uni house, the pressure was relentless, it didn’t stop.
Is this visible from this photo? Social media hides the truth, the societal constant pressure to depict the perfect life.
A recent movement on Instagram breaks down this facade, #makeinstagramcasualagain (Simone McLeod 2021).
Beginning in 2018, exploding in 2020, this hashtag has over 48,000 blurry, unfiltered, off guard and natural posts- they’re real! (Simone McLeod 2021)
(Instagram 2022)
Flashback to the Instagram I grew up with, photos showed people relaxed and enjoying themselves. This is refreshing, something influencers could learn from to create a new approach for society.
Influencers have succumbed to societal pressure to depict perfection. Despite impacted on earnings, some have withdrawn from social media to (Instagram 2022) protect their own mental health (Jarvey 2020).
Highlighted by Ashleigh Barty recently quitting professional tennis age 25 (BBC 2022).
This, alongside ‘the collective impact of many people’s small actions can lead to large global changes’ (UNI 2020) and influence the sustainability of social media.
One more blog to go to complete this series...
References listed below...
BBC. 2022. “Ashleigh Barty: World Number One Makes Shock Call to Quit Tennis.” BBC News, 23 Mar [online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-60843870 [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
CARAMURA, Tiago. 2021. “Social Media Management in the Event Industry ➡ EventsCase.com.” Eventscase | Always Aiming Higher [online]. Available at: https://eventscase.com/blog/social-media-management-in-the-event-industry [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
CHAFFEY, Dave. 2021. “Global Social Media Statistics Research Summary 2022.” Smart Insights [online]. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/#:~:text=57.6%25%20of%20the%20world [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
COLLINS. 2022. “Facade Definition and Meaning | Collins English Dictionary.” www.collinsdictionary.com [online]. Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/facade [accessed 17 Mar 2022].
COSTA, MaryLou. 2020. “COVID-19: How the Events Industry Is Transitioning to Survive.” Raconteur [online]. Available at: https://www.raconteur.net/corporate-events/events-industry-virtual/ [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
GEYSER, Werner. 2019. “20 of the Highest Paid Instagram Stars in 2020.” Influencer Marketing Hub [online]. Available at: https://influencermarketinghub.com/instagram-highest-paid/ [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
HUBSPOT. 2019. “HubSpot | Inbound Marketing, Sales, and Service Software.” Hubspot.com [online]. Available at: https://www.hubspot.com/ [accessed 25 Mar 2022].
JARVEY, Natalie. 2020. “Social Media Influencers Struggle with Anxiety amid Pressure to Create Perfectly Curated Feed.” The Hollywood Reporter [online]. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/social-media-influencers-struggle-anxiety-pressure-create-perfectly-curated-feed-1269805/amp/ [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
MARKETING, Digital. 2013. “Social Media: It’s Not Easy, but It Is Simple.” Online Marketing Institute [online]. Available at: https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/12/social-media-its-not-easy-but-it-is-simple/ [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
O’NEILL, Essena. 2022. “Essena O%27neill Instagram Posts - Google Search.” www.google.com [online]. Available at: https://www.google.com/search?q=essena+o%27neill+instagram+posts&sxsrf=APq-WBtjLJZ-NbTeu_xx6DBrsCjSJpYn7A:1647546972469&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvuK3g9s32AhWTiVwKHQkvChsQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=856&bih=722&dpr=2#imgrc=ka-otIzpCvq-CM [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
PATTERSON, Vicky. 2022. “Login • Instagram.” www.instagram.com [online]. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CambQxks-xz/ [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
SHADEED, Karina. 2019. “How Social Media Can Make or Break Your Brand.” www.linkedin.com [online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-social-media-can-make-break-your-brand-karina-shadeed [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
SIMONE MCLEOD, Nia. 2021. “The Movement to Make Instagram Casual Again.” Tiny Trips [online]. Available at: https://tinytrips.com/articles/make-instagram-casual-again [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
STATISTICS, Industry. 2021. “IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics.” www.ibisworld.com [online]. Available at: https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-size/social-media-platforms/#:~:text=The%20market%20size%2C%20measured%20by [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
TEDX TALKS. 2017. “Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health? | Bailey Parnell | TEDxRyersonU.” YouTube [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o [accessed 19 Mar 2022].
UNI, Bath. 2020. “How I See Me: The Power of Identities for Encouraging Sustainable Actions.” Bath Business and Society [online]. Available at: https://blogs.bath.ac.uk/business-and-society/2020/05/01/how-i-see-me-the-power-of-identities-for-encouraging-sustainable-actions/ [accessed 23 Mar 2022].
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