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- Title
Popularity is Worth $100k: The Construction of Identity and the Political World of Social Media as Seen on The Circle USA.
- Authors
Sylvia, Eliza A.
- Abstract
Reality television shows have long been readily consumed and appreciated by mass audiences throughout the world. Recently, these shows have begun tackling modern social constructs such as identity, gender, popularity, and social media use. Media services providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu are in constant competition to produce trend-setting and topical television shows that will appeal to mass audiences. The Circle USA is a televised social media competition where participants must use their social media savvy to become the most popular contestant without physically meeting the other competitors. They have the freedom to construct any identity they wish using photos and text-based conversations. Only the viewers know their true physical identities and are aware of the tactics used by the contestants to navigate the political field of the social networking platform and gain favor. Using symbolic interactionism and conflict theories, this article explores the relationship between the construction of identity on social media and communication with others on these online platforms. This article seeks to outline how culture impacts our online production of identity as disembodied self-objects in order to gain virtual popularity. Through an analysis of the tools used by the contestants on "The Circle USA," this article aims to identify how regular social media users emulate these tactics on their own profiles and how these actions affect the construction of their real-world identities. The findings of this article could be used in future cognitive psychological and communication studies to create awareness about how the way we present ourselves online impacts the way we view ourselves and others in the outside world.
- Subjects
IDENTITY (Psychology); AMAZON.COM Inc.; HULU LLC; NETFLIX Inc.; SOCIAL media; SYMBOLIC interactionism; POLITICAL affiliation; GROUP identity; ONLINE identities
- Publication
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, 2021, Vol 16, Issue 2, p11
- ISSN
2327-008X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.18848/2327-008X/CGP/v16i02/11-24