females and social media . issue 1
LIKE A GIRL
LIKE A GIRL AIMS TO BRING TOGETHER THE IDEAS AND MINDS OF YOUNG FEMALES WHO HAVE USED THE INTERNET AS A SPACE FOR THEMSELVES. CREATING, WRITING, CAMPAIGNING AND PHOTOGRAPHING, THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS WHEN IT COMES TO THE INTERNET AND THE THINGS IT ALLOWS YOU TO DO. THIS ZINE CELEBRATES THE GIRLS WHO HAVE DONE IT ‘LIKE A GIRL’ AND BENEFITTED FROM THE OUTCOME OF THEIR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION ON THE INTERNET.
CONTENTS PAGE 3: ‘A CONVERSATION WITH ELLIESFAVOURITETHINGS.COM’ FASHION AND LIFESTYLE BLOGGER ELLIE TALKS ABOUT HER EXPERIENCES AS A BLOGGER AND WHY SHE DOES IT. PAGE 9: ‘CLAIM TO INSTAGRAM FAME’ A LOOK INTO THE WORKINGS OF AN INSTAGRAM POST WORTHY OF ‘INSTA FAME’. PAGE 17: ‘@GIRLSAGAINST’ TEEN FEMINISTS TALK ABOUT THE MEANING BEHIND THEIR CAMPAIGN. PAGE 19: ‘SOCIAL MEDIA AND ME’ DISCUSSING WHY WE USE SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE EFFECTS IT HAS ON OUR IDENTITIES.
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A conversation with
m o c . s g n i h t e t i r u o v a f s ’ e i l l E
“I DON’T GO OUT MY WAY TO USE MY BLOG TO SHOW MY PERSONAITY, BUT I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT NOT TO FORCE IT, NOT TO BE SOMETHING THAT YOU’RE NOT.” Over the past few years, blogging has become a recognized concept taken on by young females in huge numbers. Blogging is helpful in creating an identity online, allowing people to talk about what they want when they want . With it being such a popular form of communication, I talk to fashion and lifestyle blogger Ellie, 20, author of elliesfavouritethings.com, to find out why this is and ask her about what it means to her to be a young female blogger today. Firstly, if you could introduce yourself: So my names Ellie, my blog is Ellie’s Favourite Things and I created it when I was
15/16. It’s mainly fashion a bit of lifestyle, bit of music, bit of food. I don’t want to stick my self in one direction; it’s a bit of everything! You say you started the blog in your teens, what was it inspired by?: I did it in a really backwards way. I wanted to just post music videos I liked on my blog and just created an account because I was bored and then I found bloggers and I was like oh people do this properly! And I was like that’s quite a cool idea I’m going to do this! And then I just started it. I thought I would’ve given up after a month but I carried it on.
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Did you initially see it as an online diary, until you realised
you were gaining a following?: Yeah! So I posted pictures of when I went to Leeds festival and things like that and slowly outfit posts came and I did this post of when I went to Primark and I bought these shoes and a jumper and I’m there with my webcam holding my shoes up like I bought these shoes! This is my new n e c k l a c e ! Your personality really reflects in your posts! It’s clear that your content is based on your own ideas, some bloggers get paid to do all this stuff that’s not very real. Do you think it’s important that your personality comes across so you’re more relatable in a sense?: Yeah definitely! I don’t go out my way to use my blog to show my personality, but I think it’s important not to force it, not to be something that you’re not. So if I reviewed a foundation people would be like ‘what the hell why are you reviewing a foundation?’ But I think, especially in the blogs that I read and my favourite blogs, you can almost hear them talking in your head. Especially when I meet up with bloggers and we’re now friends and then I read their blog I can hear their voice in my head, which is really weird, but really true! I don’t
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purposefully set out to be a certain way! That’s a good thing because it’s almost like a hobby to blog and you don’t feel the pressure to be a certain way: I don’t want it to be hard work. As soon as something becomes like a chore and hard work it’s not worth it. In particular there’s posts such as ‘things I wish someone had told me before I moved to london’. It was really relatable as an experience that other girls share. Do you feel like that there’s a community present in the blogging world?: Yeah like especially when I first started and I realised that I could network and grow my blog I got really involved in those blogger chats on Twitter. It was a good way to get followers and stuff but I kind of felt more distanced in the past couple of years almost because I don’t care about it as much. I’m like well I’ll read the blogs I want to read and comment on the ones I want to but I’m not going to do it for the sake of doing it. I’d rather just enjoy it. I’ve made blogger friends and we’d still be friends if I wasn’t blogging, that’s really nice, it’s been my favourite thing about blogging. A community though? I don’t know, I know there’s
looking out the window like what is she doing! With my followers I think about the kind of things that they like. So if I know that there are lots of fashion students that follow me I’ll try and do advice because I know I would of found it really useful, I suppose I just write for myself! What I find interesting.
one out there I just haven’t made the effort to properly get myself in it, I’m in my own little bubble! The content of your blog, as a reader seems constant throughout and is similar in style, for example your outfit posts all have a similar set up. Is this something you think about?: I suppose without necessarily thinking about it. The only kinds of analytics that I look at are on my outfit posts and I know they get a lot of views. Even though they’re the most basic things in the world, I just stand there outside my house with my housemate hiding behind the green bin taking them! My neighbours
As a young female, how important do you feel it is to have a space on the Internet where you can post whatever you feel and do you feel like your blog is part of your identity in anyway?: I do, I’ve probably never realised it but it is important like it never crossed my mind, especially looking back and
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thinking oh this is when I was doing my GCSEs and this is when I was in a really bad mood and I wrote about it. And then when I did that and I had the best day ever! It’s nice to go through and look back and see that. It is a good way to put things out there and maybe not just on my blog but social media as a whole. If you go on twitter it’s a good place to write things down. It’s nice to put it down somewhere and know that it’s written down, I think it just helps me. I still think there’s a fine line, I don’t want to go dishing out my whole life story but like little bits. I enjoy reading that myself on other people’s blogs.
you wrote about them like two years ago so it works quite well in that way! And from a materialistic point of view I guess blogging has brought free stuff. So Matalan contacted me like here have a voucher to buy stuff for your kitchen. I was like ‘Omg yes like I don’t mind taking a twist on my blog cos I really need a new washing up bowl!’ Like it is a bonus but mainly from a poor student view. And with fashion blogging you get invited to events, it all kind of links together. As someone whose online platform is blogging, do you feel it’s important to have other forms of social media to accompany the site?: Yeah! I kind of use my blog as the main base, I use all social media to direct to my blog not necessarily intentionally. I still like to get views on my blog and whilst I feel platforms like Instagram are really important, it’s nice to have somewhere that has actual content and writing that’s not just photos. On growing my blog, Twitter especially helped. I never totally got into the whole Instagram thing, I still post but not to grow it and get loads of followers. I suppose when finding other bloggers it’s really good to use Instagram though.
As well as being a platform you enjoy, what benefits has blogging brought to you?: Originally I was invited to events and gifted items for campaigns and things. Then I’ve used the fact I have a blog to get into University and now I’m at University I’ve used it to get placements and things like that. From a personal point of view it’s helped me career wise. Everyone has a blog nowadays I don’t see it as anything special it’s just something that I do, but it shows that I genuinely like something. For example if I wanted to work for a brand for an internship I can be like ‘oh yeah I wrote about you on my blog’ and then it shows you do care because
Do you something
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see blogging you’d carry
as on
forever or do full-time?: I’d love to blog for as long as I can because I’ve blogged for so long I can’t give up now! And also it’s so nice to look back and see posts. And from working with brands it’s so important for me to carry on building as much as I can as I’m still at University. But I don’t know what I want to do afterwards, if I had the chance to work full-time blogging I may take it but I still feel like I want to work in the fashion-industry as well. I don’t want to rely on blogging especially because blogging in the grand scheme
of things is relatively new as a job so I don’t like the idea of it turning into a chore, something where you have to expect money from it. Like anything that I get from my blog I see as a bonus! I’d rather blog when I can and whatever comes from it comes from it and keep my options open really! Jenny MacVicar. You can find Ellie at: www.elliesfavouritethings.com @elliesft
o t m i a m l C a r g a t s n I e m fa
@ g i r l s a g a i n s t As fun and lighthearted social media can be, the power it holds has no limits. Girls Against are a group of five teen feminist females, using the power of social Media to do good. With gig-groping being a major problem for music lovers, having their experiences ruined by unwanted attention, Girls Against have decided enough is enough. Their cause has brought these issues of harassment to light with the help of Twitter, using the platform to spread awareness of their campaign to stop these unwanted sexual advances for good through the power of social networking. I talk to one fifth of the group Hannah, 17, to find out more about the inspirational ways in which Girls Against are causing a positive change.
Firstly, if you could start by introducing yourself and what you are all about! Okay I’m Hannah, I’m 17 and I’m one of the five girls who run Girls Against. We are a campaign aiming to end and raise awareness of sexual assault and harassment at gigs. The cause you support is a really important one; do you feel like the Internet allows people to have the confidence to speak up about these issues? For example feminism has been grasped by young girls a lot in recent years, why do you think this is? Yes definitely! I think social media and the Internet is so important in helping people with social issues. I think it’s a lot easier to send a tweet to however many people rather than standing up and talking to people about it. You are allowed a certain level of anonymity and protection through a screen. I love the fact that feminism has become so much more accessible because of social media. Through this it’s becoming less and less cool for teenagers to be not socially aware. Feminism has become way more accessible and just easily understandable through the Internet. Instead of being faced by an overwhelming amount of information it’s broken down into threads and discussions with a limit on how long they can be. Gig groping is an experience I feel nearly every girl has experienced, myself included, and whilst it is totally unacceptable, why do you feel it has taken so long for the awareness of the problem to come about? I think because it’s such a specific
issue. Also I should probably note that although it does happen to more girls than boys and other genders it does happen to them too. There’s no other experience really like it and I think people are worried that if they claim they’ve been assaulted that they’re making a mountain out of a molehill. How do you feel the Internet has allowed you to spread awareness of your cause? We’d be nowhere without the Internet. It’s what we solely run the campaign on really I think it’s allowed us to access people from across the UK and internationally super easily. It’s also allowed us to get in contact with bands a lot easier, which has been a huge part of our campaign and really helped it along. It’s amazing how so many influential young bands such as Slaves and Hinds are getting behind you and raising awareness of such a big problem; do you feel like social media has helped in getting this support? Yeah! Like I said it’s made them a lot easier to access. I think because we mainly contact them through twitter as well it’s made it a lot easier for them to quickly find out what the campaign is about and look at what bands are already supporting us. Do you ever feel patronized or like people don’t take you seriously, and don’t believe that sexual harassment at gigs is a real problem? Very occasionally. Only once has someone pointed out our age as an insult to the campaign rather than a compliment. There have been a few comments about how
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the issue ‘isn’t real’ or ‘part of the gig experience’ but normally it’s quite funny and we just brush it off. Is there any stand out opportunities that being a part of Girls Against has brought you? I actually got to interview Wolf Alice last night, which was so so fun, they’re my favourite band so it was a real honour. As cringe as it is, it’s fun to do it every day. Although it is a lot of work and very hard sometimes just getting to be a part of something that’s making a real change to the world is fun. Finally, what do you have planned for the future of Girls Against? We’re planning on just to keep doing what we’re doing. We have some really exciting things coming up in the next few weeks when we’re all together which will be so much fun. Our rep applications are closing very soon as well so I’m excited to go over those and start on building our national and international reputations a bit more. Thank
you
Hannah!
You can find the girls on Twitter: @girlsagainst
social media and me Every day girls and their participation with social media Name: Jessica Name: Jordan Name: O c c u p a t i o n : Occupation: Student Occupation: Student and Artist and Photographer dent and Age: 21 Age: 21 Age: How does social media and technology effect y o u ? For me, it’s definitely a positive thing. Instagram is such a great way for me to share my artwork and find other people’s work as well, hash tags are a great way of exploring and discovering!
Do you publish your own content online and does this have personal benefits: I do, and yes I do feel it has benefits especially in sharing my work. It’s also great on a personal level in terms of keeping friends and family up to date with what I am doing. Does your identity online reflect who you are in real life? When I put content online it is usually on a professional level so I don’t feel it shows people the real me as much, no.
Is your online presence linked to your identity? I feel that it’s impossible for it not to be, everything you post online is thought about, so subconsciously you are choosing what to say about yourself and your personality. What is your favorite form of social media? How many hours a day Instagram 100%! Seedo you spend online? ing things visually is I don’t want to say! better to me than readToo many! ing a status update of what people are up to.
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Rebecca StuWriter 21
What do you love about the Internet? I love the freedom to post your opinions, especially as a writer. I also love how you can connect with so many different people and make discoveries that wouldn’t be possible if knowledge was only gained first hand. Do you think carefully about how you present yourself on the Web? It differs. When writing a status update I’m usually ranting about something small annoying me at the time. On Instagram however, there’s all the editing and cropping you are encouraged to do before posting, so I am forced to think more about how it looks!
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