The idea of social media being a platform for performance online is something that might strike us as being odd. The development of technology and the advancements and the creation of social media in the recent decades has been life changing to society. But how do we view social media? Do we view it as a platform to connect with people? To promote one’s self and one’s business? Are we posting and tweeting to impress other people? Are we being true to who we are? These are all questions that run through my mind when discussing the ideas of social media. In this post I will be discussing the ideas of performance through social media using the Instagram page @eboydsfood while giving examples and metaphors from the readings.
These are images posted on the food page @eboydsfood . This Instagram page is full food photos, food recipes, tips and tricks on how to lose or gain weight, workout routines and advice, and a great dose of positive encouragement. In, “All the World Wide Web” written by Erika Pearson she states, “Online, users can claim to be whoever they wish. Like actors playing a role, they can deliberately choose to put forth identity cues or claims of self that can closely resemble or wildly differ from reality.” (Pearson). In this case, the creator of this food account is TRUE to her performance on this food page. She lives by what she preaches. This is significant because some people will put on a fake act on their social media platform in order to make you believe something about themselves that may not be true. But when discussing with some of @eboydsfood ‘s 5,000+ followers, they all said that Emily seems very genuine and authentic to her posts on this page. This has now become her identity to her followers on this page.
Emily has created her own unique identity to her followers and watchers on @eboydsfood through her true-to-self performance within this page. But the ideas of identity as performance is not a new concept. This idea was developed by Goffman in 1959 and is seen as part of the flow of social interaction as individuals construct identity performances fitting one’s social environment. (Pearson). So although social media is a new platform, the ideas and reasoning behind it dates back to the mid 1900’s. Goffman also argues that just like in face-to-face performances, there are acts and gestures made to communicate the enjoyment of this performance. On an online performance such as the one on @eboydsfood , there are codes and signs that the viewers reply to a certain post that allows the page creator to receive feedback for their performance. (Goffman).
Pearson uses an example of a glass bedroom as a metaphor for online performances and I believe that it speaks tremendous volumes especially for my example of @eboydsfood . Imagine a glass room. Within the room a variety of acts are being put on for bystanders and an audience viewing the room from the outside. The bystanders can stop to view the performance that is taking place or they can just keep moving along to the next glass bedroom. If they enjoy the performance, they can continue to view it and even send gestures to the performer acknowledging them of their enjoyment for the act. If the viewer wants to speak with the performer they can ask to enter the room for a more “face-to-face” conversation with the performer and actually have a dialogue. This is the perfect metaphor for the food page above. To illustrate, Emily will post a video of a workout for example. A viewer can now either press a button that acknowledges Emily of their pleasure in the video or they can scroll to the next post on that social media platform. Now if they would like to have a more “face-to-face” conversation about the video posted, they can send a direct message to Emily asking her a question about it. The metaphor of the glass bedroom by Pearson correlates perfectly with @eboydsfood and many social media accounts alike.
Emily has made an identity for herself through her performance on the social media account @eboydsfood . The connection between the ideas of Goffman and Pearson to this food page are extremely similar and correlate excellently. The connection between performance and social media pages have become synonyms to me after the knowledge gained through the readings and metaphors presented by the authors.
I hope you enjoyed my Blog Post! If you have any questions or comments please comment down below!
Thank you!
Questions:
1.) Do you think that most social media performances are true to their true identity or are most accounts a way of producing a false identity?
2.) Is there any differences between theatrical performances compared to social media performances? If so what are they?
3.) Is it difficult to perform your true identity via social media or is has it become more difficult due to desire for more likes or being “cool”?
Caleb's Section's Blog (THEATER 118AC Summer 2018) 
Awesome post and a fan of this page!! I believe that in most cases social media performances are true to their true identity but maybe a bit over exaggerated. Most people post about their real lives on social media but we don’t always get to see the good and the bad of that persons life. So in reality we do see the real side of their happy lives. However most posts of socially media are very thought out and cared for, we don’t just see a random post with no thought. Goffman described these as techniques of performance and people do these techniques to keep the viewers engagement high. Goffman also discusses that we influenced by others when It comes to posting on social media because their is pressure to post likable/popualr content.
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Hi Patrick, enjoyed reading your post. Very interesting. Here are my answers to your questions.
1.) Do you think that most social media performances are true to their true identity or are most accounts a way of producing a false identity?
I think people tend to hide characteristics or history which they do not want public to know. They tend more to show their happy or exciting lives in the social media platform. That is why if you take a glimpse in Instagram, you will see a lot of photos of happy, healthy, engaging people. So I would not say they are showing false identity but it is more mended identity which is filtered in some amount.
2.) Is there any differences between theatrical performances compared to social media performances? If so what are they?
Theatrical performances and social media performances can be different in the concept of space-time. Performances in theater have specific time when and where to watch. At exact time, performers act in amount of time that they said they are going to. However, social media performances can be viewed mostly in any time and anywhere. You can even rewind and watch it again. This reminds me of how McLuhan have mentioned that this era of instantaneous dissemination of information anytime and anywhere drastically changed our styles of life.
3.) Is it difficult to perform your true identity via social media or is has it become more difficult due to desire for more likes or being “cool”?
Like I stated above, people might not want to convey their “not cool” identities in social media. Goffman mentioned this as backstage region where performers anticipate audience not to enter. This can obstruct true identity which is identity that you perform in everyday lives. In Facebook, people more often upload what they have achieved or what they are doing exciting -front region- things rather than sad and boring experiences -backstage region.
Thank you!
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Considering your third question, I think it is difficult to portray one’s “true identity” via social media for several reasons. The main reason is that a social media profile or post is a lot less natural than a conversation between two people where you find out about their identity. For example, if I posted on social media and said “I love music. My favorite bands are . . .” it would look like I was trying to force people to know I liked music for reasons that could be assumed to be self-centered or attention-seeking. On the other hand, if I met someone in person and we were discussing how our days have been, I could easily say that I spent the day listening to some of my favorite bands and talk about music. In this way, I think it’s difficult to portray characteristics about ourselves online because it’s typically unprompted. Furthermore, making a post on Instagram about a band I’ve been listening to a lot recently would also include having to post a photo to go along with it. This makes it need more prepping than just having a conversation about the band in person, because now I have to decide which album cover to post with it, or if I just post a screenshot of the Spotify screen, or if I post a random photo of a flower and just make the caption about the band, etc..
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Awesome post, this was a cool blog topic to write about!
I do believe that to some extent people are able to perform themselves truly on social media. Facebook offers groups for students to share resources, memes, or ideologies. It also allows for shared videos for people to share art, music, and more. In this light people are able to share not only how they perceive their own interests but are able to understand better how people see them. This being said, bloggers (like fitness models), typically put way more effort into their photos than people realize, which can make their lives look effortless and flawless. This can create a false stigma about what it is like to lead a perfect life that in reality may require lots of time taking photos, eating patterns and editing abilities.
I would say the one key difference is that often theatrical performances are scripted by a writer and managed by a director, etc. In social media, you are the lead actor, and you have to choose how to script yourself, which can be extremely mentally taxing for some and can lead to self deprecation if not achieved successfully. It is similar in that you are received by an audience, or by your likers and followers and it is up to them how to receive that which you share.
For me, I feel rather authentic on social media, however it is often easy to feel self validation or lack there of in connection with likes.
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Hi Patrick, thank you for your blog post! I think it is very interesting to think about social media being a platform for performance. It is especially important to be thinking about how social media is affecting society so much now with a president who uses it to get his message out and seemingly to promote himself and his policies by boasting about his accomplishments — even when they are not true.
In response to your question — “Is it difficult to perform your true identity via social media or is has it become more difficult due to desire for more likes or being “cool”? I think that there is an enormous amount of pressure on people to post things that make them look super happy or special. I feel that many people create an on-line identity that makes them appear to always be happy and doing fun and amazing things. In a sense they are putting on a performance to make themselves to appear to be someone they aren’t. I think this is bad for society overall and causes many people to think that their lives are not as interesting and full as those that using social media as a performance to show the world how interesting and cool their lives are.
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