Social Media and Its Impact on Society
May 2015
University of Denver
Reilly Sullivan
Lorem Ipsum
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Review of Literature
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Results and Analysis of Data
Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion
Works Cited
Appendix
3
2 1
Lorem Ipsum
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION As a young adult in 2015, I can confirm the prominence of social media in American culture. My generation contributes to the amplification of social media’s value on both a social and economical spectrum. Since the creation of Instagram in 2010, there has been a shift in the way the public is able to contribute to a social network, which has evolved as self-expression via image and caption. On the official Instagram webpage, the company recognizes itself as a “community of more than 300 million who capture and share the world's moments on the service.” (Instagram) This statement has stimulated a certain curiosity as a researcher to further analyze Instagram’s power within American culture. As an active user, and as a determined student, I respond to the question, How can a smartphone application develop into a credibly recognized community? The motive behind Instagram is depicted in the breakdown of its name; “Insta” comes from the word “instant,” which refers to the speedy development of an Instagram post, and “gram” which stems from the word, “telegram,” a product that sends off and connects one message to another. The product’s intention to create a visual form of communication represents major technological advancements and ultimately stands as the foundation of the success of the Instagram community. Expanding from the simplicities of Instagram’s framework, the vast contributors of Instagram form a more tangible reasoning of the company’s success. By simply clicking, “About Us,” on the Instagram website, one may read that “Instagram has become the home for visual storytelling for everyone from celebrities, newsrooms and brands, to teens, musicians and anyone with a creative passion.” (Instagram) This application is integrated into social, cultural, economical and personal aspects of daily life. The involvement of entities as large as a company marketing their product to a specific demographic and as mundane as a typical American High-school student sharing life-moments through a captured image all factor into Instagram’s prominence. As a member of Generation X, it is clear that teenagers and young adults are the majority of involvement on Instagram. According to the Pew Internet survey, “Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms,” 53% of Instagram’s users range from the ages 18-29. (Pew Internet, Demographics). The activity on Instagram is highly reflective of the younger audience because of their overpowering presence on the media platform. Whether it is an active member of this demographic or a business seeking to target these young adults, Instagram has undoubtedly become a force of influence on social behavior within our culture.
CHAPTER 2 – REVIEW OF LITERATURE Since the early 2000s, social media developed into an integral platform of modern communication. The varying forms of social media collectively enable people to share status updates, photographs and videos with other users. Relationships can form, enhance or hinder as a result of their technological interaction. Caroline Haythornthwaite, a graduate of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Analyzes the connectivity in her published article, Strong, Weak, and Latent Ties and the Impact of New Social Media, Where ties are strong, communicators can influence each other to adapt and expand their use of media to support the exchanges important to their tie, but where ties are weak, communicators are dependent on common, organizationally established means of communication and protocols established by others. (Haythornthwaite) There are both positive and negative effects of Internet socialization. A person who has previously established his or her identification may strengthen their familiarities with their community. Conversely, if a previous introduction has never been made, a person’s identification is reduced into their media profile. Developing a relationship over the Internet leads to a reduction of one’s identification for numerous reasons. The Internet provides us with many opportunities to be expressive, but it skews the reality of getting to know how a person interacts in real life. As defined in A Review of Social Network Sites; Experience and Applications published by Scientific Research Corporation, Social media is a “construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system” (LIU, YING). It is important that the term “bounded” is recognized. Social media is a form of communication, yes, however, it is a limited source of socialization. Haythornthwaite discusses these boundaries, writing, [Interactions via social media cause] a reduced cues environment that is ill-suited to emotional, expressive or complex communications, and responsible for longer decision times, anti-social and gaming behaviors and decreased social involvement (Haythornthwaite) Social media networks require their users to create an online representation of themselves. This recreation of identification lacks certain authenticity of identification that can only be fulfilled with offline communication. Haythornthwaite makes the points that the online environment lacks the emotional, expressive and in-depth communication occurs offline. There are no screens to mask emotions, reactions, and certain behaviors that a person may reassess with the opportunity for longer decision time within non-confrontational communication. Although social network sites do not provide their online community with boundless forms of connection and
development of relationships, the agency of impression management has many beneficial factors for its users. The ability for an individual to publicly profile herself or himself gives these users a feeling of significance, control and power. Findings and examples of these benefactors are recognized by Yasmin Ibrahim, a researcher on new media, digital and technologies and author of analytical essay, Instagramming Life: Banal Imaging and Poetics of Everyday Life. Further Alice Marwick’s Instafame essay discusses such benefits of self-profiling. The public can hear, see and read information shared directly from the source whereas other public forums risk misrepresentation. This assertion is expressed on Modern-day Celebrities Instagram pages. The celebrities use this power and control to their advantage to clarify false information that other public forums feed to the public. The account holder is able to choose how he or she will contribute to the social media forum to represent himself. This is a positive factor for branding and reputation management. For example, Nike uses Instagram to help their branding campaigns gain momentum. This practice is not as easily done in the offline process of profiling because of the outside factor that can obscure self-representation. Both positive and negative outlooks on interaction over social media sites revolve around one theme: concern of self in the public eye. This does not specifically refer to how someone chooses to represent him or herself, but it also refers to the satisfaction of contributing to the public sphere- feeling of significance in an active community of users worldwide. This external value can be viewed as a cause of potential “Narcissism epidemic” that is occurring amongst a certain demographic that represents the majority of the Instagram community- further analysis of this is taken from ASAPScience, the academic YouTube page, and the respected Professor Jean M. Twenge, author of The Narcissistic Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, Twenge’s work is then further analyzed on the Sydney Morning Herald Website, this collection of material is used to explain how the young adult population are the most relevant group of people to the study of social media and narcissism. Globally, the public continues to indulge themselves in modern social media technology, this platform of social interaction becomes increasingly prominent in everyday life. Although Facebook, with 1.2 billion users, and Twitter, with 225 million users, dominate the social media realm, modern interest has transitioned to the newfound, free of charge, photo sharing smart-phone application called Instagram. Instagram’s minimum of 200 million users and their contributions to the 60 million daily uploads on Instagram are contributing factors in the Smartphone Application’s emergence of power, and the its affect social, cultural, economical, and personal aspects of life. (Hempel, Instagram is Ready) As previously mentioned, social media triggers a sense of significance within its everyday users, Yasmin Ibrahim, a researcher in the new media, digital technologies and cultural field, depicts this idea significance while referring to Instagram in her analytical essay Instagramming Life: Banal Imaging and Poetics of Everyday Life: “This objectification of self is historically and elementally bound with human need to profile ourselves, to invite public gaze, to immortalize the journey of life through images and to finally leave something of ourselves behind in this mortal world.” (Ibrahim, Instagramming Life) Instagram has given its users the power to symbolically document and share their lives with others. Instagram users have the power to choose what photo they want to post onto their profile, their collection of photos can be seen as a representation of his or herself to the Instagram world. Instagram gives the public the power to contribute to and involve themselves in world wide social network.
Along with Instagram’s users gaining a sense of significance in effects of their digital presence at a private and public forum, this application allows its users to self-manage their engagement. Instagram is an outlet for selfexpression and curiosity of other’s lives through a visual medium. The analytical journalist, who wrote Instagram is Ready to take its Shot, Jessi Hempel, states “Photo sharing has empowered people in powerful, unexpected ways— even those not named Kardashian or Bieber.” (Hempel, Instagram is Ready) People are engaged in this social network where they are able to act as both the audience and the user. Socially, Instagram allows people to connect via image, caption, and response. Instagram encourages people to create a page that focuses on him or herself and receive praise from their followers is self-satisfying; the egocentric framing of Instagram reflects modern social structure. The overflow of self-promotion and hunger for external acceptance rather than self-satisfaction; with each “like” and comment that a user receives on their shared photo. ASAPScience, an educational YouTube account, posted a video on Social media and its effects on the body that MTV recognized due to the unappealing facets of narcissism, social media, and society: While using social media increases the amount of dopamine released into the body, with 80 percent of social media use directly related to the person using social media our bodies are now essentially rewarding us for talking about ourselves, making narcissism feel like the norm to our bodies. (Asapscience, MTV) The self-centered practice of social media reflective of its users and the culture they make up. This narcissistic culture is mostly centered on the millennial population; people born in the 1980s through 2000s. Professor Jean M. Twenge, the respected author of The Narcissistic Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, refers to this concentration of social media- obsessed young adults as, “Generation Me.” (psychalive) Professor Twenge built an interview based study where she asked 35,000 people of varying ages 18 and up question that that showed possible symptoms of narcissism; caring more about external values, for example, concern for image over self-acceptance. Professor Twenge anticipated the older group of individuals to be narcissistic but the results of her data proved otherwise: “Only 3 per cent of those over 65 had had symptoms, but for people in there 20s it was 10 per cent.” Professor Twenge expressed, “'These were shocking numbers because you can only diagnose this starting at age 18, so there weren't that many years for people in their 20s to develop this, yet their rate was three times as high as people over 65.'' She concluded this study by naming celebrity and Internet culture amongst the three things that have caused the “emerging narcissism epidemic.” (Hagan, Sydney Morning Herald) Using Instagram as a social media reference, the egocentric mentality this the users endure while using the application is further studied by Dr. Yasmin Ibrahim, a researcher in the new media, digital technologies and cultural field. Ibrahim describes the ugly truths of visual media in her research piece, Instagramming Life: Banal Imaging and Poetics of Everyday Life: “This visual economy turns self into a subject and object where narcissism is manifest in the creation and sharing of profiles” (Ibrahim, Instagramming Life) Instagram users have the power to choose what photo they want to post onto their profile, their collection of photos can be see as a representation of his or herself to the Instagram world, the application is structured to fixate on the account holder as the center of the community they
involve themselves in. It is an opportunity to receive praise and attention that is not granted to the general public in reality; it empowers people, giving them access to the similar feelings of admiration, feelings that everyday celebrities receive. As stated above, Jessi Hempel, author of the article Instagram is Ready to take Its Shot, says “Photo sharing has empowered people in powerful, unexpected ways—even those not named Kardashian or Bieber.” (Hempel, Instagram is Ready) The everyday user’s feeling of empowerment is clearly portrayed in the paragraphs above. However, the power that Instagram has granted celebrities is not to be disregarded. Famous figures use Instagram to create an unmediated connection to their fan-base. Their popularity strengthens as they are able to connect at a deeper level than ever before to the peoples that admire them, an analysis on Instafame states, “Seeming to bypass agents and managers and other traditional brokers of celebrity attention, young stars like Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian provide snapshots of their lives and interactions with followers that give the impression of candid, unfettered access.” (Marwick, Instafame) Paparazzi can be harmful and misrepresentative to a celebrity, Instagram gives celebrities the power to correct these misrepresentations and strengthen their fan base. The widely known reality television Kardashian Family is all active celebrities on Instagram. Their popularity has caused them to be victim of bad press. However, Instagram grants the family the power to fight back. Kylie Jenner, with 24.3 million followers and Kendall, with 26.7 million followers use Instagram to clarify false accusations of the media to their fans. This gives them the opportunity directly express themselves to their fans and discredit the false information that publishers of gossip forums post. On April 24th, Bruce Jenner, the father of Kylie and Kendall and the stepfather admitted that he is a woman trapped in a man’s body. With the millions of fans closely following this occurrence and the aftermath, gossip forums use this topic as an opportunity to make money off this momentum, even if it means providing false information. International Business Times published an article titled, “Kendall Drops ‘Jenner’ From Name: Is she Embarrassed About Bruce Jenner’s Alleged Sex Change?” (Rate, IBTimes) and another Gossip Website posted the article, “Bruce’s Heartbreak: Kylie Jenner Has Seen Her Dad Since His Breast Implant Surgery – ‘Embarrassed’ By His Changes?” (Radaronline) Both articles were posted by the pop-culture media and both sources made false implication of Bruce Jenner’s kids being ashamed of their father’s identification as a woman, however, their activity on Instagram clarified the bad press. Both Kendall’s posts (top two) and Kylie’s post clear the misconceptions that sparked from the indirect press. Kendall’s first post of her father reminding about when his daughter, Kendall grows up, she must keep in mind that he will be her friend. Kendall captions this photo “always” in response to her father’s reminder to clarify that her father does not embarrass her. She continues to express her support for her father with a snapshot of a statement she wrote years before expressing how Bruce is her role model, and claims that “nothing has changed” to prove that she still looks up to her father. Kylie’s Instagram post goes without caption, but a caption is not necessary; the photo is a picture of her and Bruce, sitting side-by-side and smiling. Their activity on Instagram has given the celebrities a handle on their reputation. Unlike involuntary publicity from the paparazzi, the Jenner Sisters are able to choose how they would like to be publically representing themselves in the media and give their audience a direct response rather than the untrustworthy information that is spread by outside sources.
Another benefactor that has risen from Instagram alongside self-representation is business and customer relationship management and the new approach to marketing; Businesses use Instagram as an approach to advertise their products on a well-liked and frequently used modern application. In a Forrester research report, Instagram was proven to be the leading approach to engagement of marketing brands to the mass public; Its study found that top brands’ Instagram posts delivered 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter. (Adriel, Business Benefits) Brand names are able to visually engage their customers in a way like never before. In the article, 5 Instagram Tips to Maximize Brand Presence, Ali Lundberg lists steps Brands take to advertise their company; Hash tags, picture quality over quantity, captions and identification of influencers. These suggestions give companies the power to interact with their communities and keep the brand name present in the public’s everyday life. (Lundberg, Instagram Tips) Companies use Instagram as an open platform to engage their customers; the customers can share their opinions on the company's posts, they can contribute to a common “hash tag” and tag the brand’s account in their own posts. TOTEMS List, an online ranking of the top brands on Instagram, includes the audience of the account (followers) as well as the number of posts and their hash tag (contributors), names Nike the most engaging brand on Instagram. (Totems) With motivating high-quality photographs, captioned with the hash tags including #justdoit and #nike women, nike has engaged their customers into their branding process; people contribute their own photos to their branding hash tags, they comment on the Instagram and share the posts with their friends. Nike created a community by integrating customers in their branding process. Big name brands are not using Instagram to get an audience- they already have an audience. It is about allowing the audience to participate in company’s products, campaigns, and advertisements; giving the public an active role to make them feel like they are not just fans of the products- they are apart of the brand’s community. Instagram is a smartphone application that is beneficial for many aspects of our culture. Image-based Social media will continue to provide the social, economical, and political platforms of our society with an unparalleled access to the population. The two-way engagement of audience and users builds a community out of an application.
CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY
The purpose of my project is to research social media and its integration into our culture. Because this is such a wide-scale study, I specified the study of how social media has affected our culture focusing on communication and socialization within the culture. With these key themes in mind, I was able to notice a pattern within the social media studies; the studies generally focused the studies effects on young adults, social media and egocentric values, marketing and networking schemes of social media and reputation management. I knew that I wanted to center my study on one platform of social media so I would be able to use specific examples and remain consistent throughout the entire piece- I worried that if I referenced a variety of social media platforms then the intention of the research paper would be devalued because the distracting number of different examples. I noticed the numerous amounts of studies done on Facebook and Twitter, the two most used social media forums, and not much on Instagram because of its recent release to the public in 2010. For this reason, I chose Instagram- the application that consumes the lives of many young adults with little analytical recognition within the educational community. After choosing Instagram as the social media forum that I will conduct my research on, I created a set of qualitative questions that would outline my further study: How is Instagram different than other social media forums? It is an image-based way to communicate on a public platform. Who uses the application? Companies and the general public, mainly young adults as express in Business insider survey expressing Over 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35 (business insider). How do they use it? The application can be used in many different ways; it can be used as a way to connect with friends, as a marketing tactic and for reputation management. How does the application affect the users? There have been developing studies of both negative and positive effects; it can stimulate egocentric/ materialistic values but it also can help expand a business or social circle. Along with the underlying communication and socialization themes, I developed a clear understanding of the intention of my research and how I will structure my project to get the best results. I used meta-cognitive analysis of myself as an Instagram user: I scanned through my photos to get an idea of what kind of pictures I post, what my intentions are when posting the pictures, and how the are representative towards me. I looked at the pictures with the most “likes, “a term Instagram defines as “A way to give positive feedback or connect with things and people you care about on Instagram.” (Instagram) versus the least amount of likes to get an idea of the receptivity of certain kinds of pictures. I then went to my “following” page to see what kind of accounts I follow and of these accounts, which ones do I take the most interest in?; I noticed I followed a few travel accounts, fashion accounts, celebrity accounts and food accounts but the majority of Instagram Accounts that I follow are people I know. The process of meta-cognitive analysis stimulated ideas of how to approach an Instagram-based research paper.
My intention of this paper is to conceptualize the prominence of Instagram and leave the readers with a clear understanding of why it is important to study Instagram’s influence on culture. The primary sources help grant me with credibility and a solid foundation to build my own research off of. My survey will be more qualitative than quantitative. The amount of respondents does matter but not as much as the type of questions I ask to developed my own theories of Instagram that I to compare and contrast to previous studies.
CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS Instagram has become one of the most out-standing platforms of online connection since it’s pervasive start on October 6, 2010. Instagram has maintained its position as one of the Top 10 most downloaded applications. (Hempel, Instagram Is Ready) And has recently made its way to the 2nd most time consuming application per month with 220 minutes. (The Companies; Nielsen Netview) Instagram’s recent creation and increasing popularity within the demographic I am involved in pursued me to use the application to further develop and/or deny the theories of social media mentioned in previous chapters. I am able to broaden my analysis of these theories using the data I collect from my personally conducted Instagram survey. Young adults presents on the application continues to increase. According to the Pew Internet survey, “Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms,” in 2013, 37% of Instagram users were young adults and within one year, this percentage increased to 53% ranging from the ages 18-29. (Pewinternet, demographics) Based on 66 returned surveys of respondents that all fall under the age demographic of “generation me,” I am able to confirm my previous assertion of Instagram’s prominent standing. As shown in graph 1, 62 out of 64 respondents said “yes” to the question, “Do you use Instagram?” In graph 2, 64 of the 66 respondents claim to use instagram and 45 take the most interest Instagram, followed by 13 preferring Facebook and the remaining 7 respondents favor twitter and 1 respondent skipped this inquiry. As theorized in previous chapters, the egocentric framework of Instagram gives its users a feeling of significance; the power to personally contribute to a public platform in using their own style of visual expression and receive recognition and praise for their active self promotion. However, this narcissistic practice is not reflective of my findings.
I noticed a divergence in the information above and my personal collection of data. One of the questions I put on the survey asks, “How many times do you upload a photo to Instagram?” As active contributors to the Instagram feed, 68% of the respondents claim to post photos only a couple times a month, 21.21% said a couple times a week, and 7.5% said never. The remaining answers; every other day, a couple times a day and once a day proved to be the least popular responses. This data shows that majority of respondents do not take advantage of the limitless opportunities to post their own photo and receive praise- As an Instagram posters, this group of people sway towards the less frequent options of the amount of Instagrams they post. Implying that the continual engagement relies heavily on them as the audience, giving the praise rather than receiving it. Continuing my dissenting information on narcissism in social media, In graph 4, I asked a question referring to the kind of Instagram posts that contribute to the respondents’ portfolios and allowed the Students to check the box of the different type of Instagram have posted to their accounts. In order from most popular to least the types of Instagram’s include; pictures with friends, nature pictures, food pictures, “selfies,” animal pictures, Drug and alcohol related, other, pictures that the Instagrammer did not take, and the least popular is quotes. This question highlights the contrasting information in my own data versus the information I have collected from outside sources; Based on the knowledge I gained after reading information on “generation me,” and young adults’ activity on social media and their growing symptoms of narcissism, I anticipated “selfie” type of photos to be the most popular of all the posts. However the data shown in graph 3 concludes that “selfies” are not even in the top 3 most popular kind of posts. Transitioning focus to the spectator's role of Instagram users, the benefits of branding are clearly portrayed. The majority of respondents check their “Instagram feed” on a daily basis, mostly 8+ times a day. I also ask what kind of Instagram accounts they follow: the popularity of food (50.77%), travel (49.25%) and fashion (49.23%) accounts was high enough to show how the marketing tactics via Instagram that I described in Chapter 2 have enough recognition to be effective. Instagram acts as a medium ground for companies to brand their products; either by gaining or maintaining recognition. Branding via Instagram is beneficial to both them and their followers; if these accounts remain entertaining for their audiences, their popularity will help with branding, advertising and other successful endeavors for their business. Lastly, I asked the questions: Have you ever taken part in a social movement via Instagram? I follow this question with the examples ice bucket challenge and #bringbackourgirls. I ask this question to further analyze forms of communication and possible gain of momentum Instagram could stimulate for social change and communication. Although only 18 out of 65 respondents said yes, the ratio is large enough to prove how the creation of this virtual community has been used for public good.
CHAPTER 5 – DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Social media’s prominent role in modern society is the reason why I analyze it is effects on our culture. This recognition is necessary because social media is an advancing form of engagement in everyday life and it is important to know how it is affecting society. There are both positive and negative aspects of this socialization and we must highlight these aspects in order to use the technology to our advantage. The use of social media affects the way we communicate, socialize and how companies choose to market their products. Because Instagram was created only 5 years ago, not many in depth research has been done in the application leaving the public with many unanswered questions. In the future, it is important that more case studies are conducted on its effects on human emotion and mentality. A narcissistic symptom that may arise from the use of Instagram is a developing theory that may arise while using Instagram. The only way to avoid this negative impact social media may cause is to confront the issue and collect enough data to prove, or disprove this dissertation. Before social media, reaching out to the others, especially people that are not within a close distance of each other, was extremely difficult and could only be done by mail, telephone or face-to-face conversation. Since social media was invented, it has proven to be an extremely effective way to people to communicate with the public. Instagram’s innovative set up of involving both visuals and text to communicate engages its users and groups people of common interests into community groupings- people that express common interests use hash tags and geography locations to see other peoples opinions on the chosen topic. A common interest that people actively respond to that is socially beneficial is social movements. Because Instagram is used as a way to communicate with a mass amount of people, Instagram can be used to spread awareness of current events and social movements. Community of social activities is able to form over Instagram when using hash tags, geographic locations and the simple act of posting a photo with the intention to participate in a social movement. The Ice Bucket Challenge is a social movement that involved a person posting a photo of video of themself pouring water over their head was started to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Knowledge of this disease spread quickly after this event and people were able to contribute to spreading knowledge of this disease by posting their participation. If more people used Instagram with this social benefit in mind it can enhance the public good; many Advances of this study should continuously be done. Only 5 years ago, Instagram was created so the long-term effects of this smart phone application are undeclared. The public must contribute to this study by executing studies of their own and responding to past research in order to use this form of communication in the best way possible. Social media will evolve and take on new forms as technological advances continue be done, it is important we further this study to make sure we handle this forum in the best way.
WORKS CITED
Adriel, Ivan. "The Business Benefits of Instagram." Veterinary Ireland Journal. Academic Search Complete, 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com>.
Baker, Amanda. "Social Media Leaves a Mark on Teenage Brains." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com>.
Deering, Sophie. "How Nike Use Social Media." Link Humans. Link Humans, 2015. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://linkhumans.com/>.
Firestone, Liza. "Is Social Media to Blame for the Rise in Narcissism?" Psych Alive. PsychAlive, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.psychalive.org/>.
Friedman, Vanessa. "Do Women Take Body Image Cues From Models?" On the Runway Do Women Take Body Image Cues From Models Comments. New York Times Company, 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Gibson, Megan. "Thinterest? When Social Networks and Body Image Collide." NewsFeed. Time Inc., 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://newsfeed.time.com>.
Guimar達es, Thiago. "The Demographic Trends For Every Social Network." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://www.businessinsider.com>.
Hagen, Kate. "New Generation Infected by Narcissism, Says Psychologist." The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media, 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.smh.com.au>.
Haythornwaite, Caroline. "Strong, Weak, and Latent Ties and the Impact of New Media." WikiSpaces. The Information Society, 2002. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://emmtii.wikispaces.asu.edu/file/view/Shakespeare Hero Demo.pdf>. Heger, Jen. "Bruce's Heartbreak." Radar Online. Radar Online, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://radaronline.com>. Hempel, Jessi. "Instagram Is Ready To Take Its Shot." Fortune. Business Source Complete, 7 July 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Ibrahim, Yasmin. "Instagramming Life: Banal Imaging and the Poetics of the Everyday." Taylor &amp; Francis Online. Journal Of Media Practice, 4 Mar. 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.tandfonline.com>. Jenna, Wortham. "Instagram and the New Era of Paparazzi." New York Times Bits. The New York Times Company, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com>. Lutes, Alicia. "Social Media Is Changing Your Brain In 5 Terrifying Ways." MTV News. Viacom International, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.mtv.com/news/1923365/social-media-brain/>. Marwick, Alice E. "Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy." Instafame: Luxury Selfies in the Attention Economy. Duke University Press, 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://publicculture.dukejournals.org> Ni, Michael Y, Brandford H Y Chan, Gabriel M Leung, Eric H Y Lau, and Herbert Pang. "Transmissibility of the Ice Bucket Challenge among Globally Influential Celebrities: Retrospective Cohort Study." The BMJ. BMJ, 16 Dec. 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Schneier, Matthew. "How Kanye West Dominated Fashion Month." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. Tate, Amethyst. "Kendall Drops 'Jenner' From Name: Is She Embarrassed About Bruce Jenner's Alleged Sex Change?" International Business Times. IBT Media Inc., 28 May 2015. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com>. Wortham, Jenna. "The Well-Followed on Social Media Cash In on Their Influence." New York Times. New York Times Company, 9 June 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <www.nytimes.com>.
APPENDIX 1. Which of the following social media platforms do you find the most interesting?
2. Do you use Instagram?
3. How often do you check your Instagram feed?
4. How many times do you upload a photo to Instagram?
5. What kind of Instagram accounts do you follow?
6. What kind of pictures do you upload?
7. How many "likes" do you typically get on a photo you upload?
8. Have you ever taken part in a social movement via Instagram? (i.e. Ice Bucket Challenge or #Bringbackourgirls)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My Name is Reilly Sullivan, I was born and raised in Darien, Connecticut with my mother, father, two sisters and brother. I am a freshman major of Communications at the University of Denver and plan to graduate in the spring of 2018. I am extremely interested in the study of the evolution of communication, specifically Internet communication. This research supplements work I intend on studying in my coming years at the University of Denver.