Instagram and virtual identity

Instagram allows people to create a virtual self-narrative or identity. From the photos you choose to post, what you write, how you comment and how you tag. As Van Luyn says "In a virtual narrative you are not the only person constructing your identity."(Van Luyn,A. 2015) This also applies to instagram, as you can be tagged by other people in photos, and in will show in a tab on your profile called "photos of (your name)." More about this can be seen here.

photo from: http://www.droid-life.com/

In the case of power; while some self-narratives may be silenced; through the user not being popular enough; unlike facebook, as said by McNeill “the auto/biographical act of creating a Profile follows particular company guidelines and establishes community norms for participation.”(McNeill,L.2012) Instagram does not direct users in how to construct their virtual identity. There is no relationship status, name, age or info like that to fill out. Instagram does however have a gender option, which only allows male, female or not specified. This can silence some people’s self-narratives.

The user of an account may also not be able to keep power over their own content. Once they post it, someone else may take it, repost it, edit it or if it artwork, even sell it. In the case of ownership, Instagram doesn’t really give the user’s power.

Instagram also has some features of post humanism. The photos posted are quite often of people (selfies, friend’s photos) pets or flowers/other nature. This challenges the boundaries between the virtual and the natural world.

REFERENCES:

McNeill,L. (2012) There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography

Van Luyn,A. (2015) Our space: Network, narratives, and the making of place, lecture 5: Intertextuality [powerpoint slide 7] Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au