“It’s All About the Look”: Making Sense of Appearance, Attractiveness, and Authenticity Online

Abstract

Existing research on Instagram suggests that the mobile application is dominated by a cast of hegemonically attractive influencers. But calls for greater diversity and inclusion are on the rise, raising important questions about how social media influencers and the industry personnel who support them understand diversity and negotiate appearance ideals. Drawing on 40 interviews with influencers and industry personnel as well as a year of online observation, I find that hegemonic ideals surrounding appearance and attractiveness continue to shape who is (and isn’t) perceived as worthy of visibility online. Industry personnel and influencers alike share that these ideals play an important role in cultivating a following on social media but remain convinced that change is underway. Emphasizing the importance of influencers’ relatability and perceived authenticity, influencers, agents, and brand representatives shift focus away from broader issues surrounding the platform including the role that industry personnel play in moderating and constraining opportunities for diversity online.

Platformed cultural production and calibration in the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Authenticity is performed when, for example, influencers make personal disclosures to their audiences or post content that is unedited online ( Maares et al, 2021 ; Reade, 2021 ). These performances are balanced against Instagram’s aspirational ethos ( Duffy, 2015 ; Hund and McGuigan, 2019 ), requiring that influencers appear put together and polished, but authentic and relatable too ( Foster, 2022 ). As Duffy and Sawey (2021) put it, influencers are often made to ‘respond to the social media ideal of authenticity without disrupting Instagram’s ethos of aspirationalism’ (p. 140).…”

“…For others, calibrating authenticity entails a host of relational practices including routine and ongoing communication with audiences ( Baym, 2015 ), the production of unscripted content and confessionals, and the use of specific linguistic and cultural markers ‘strategically deployed to build emotional and affective resonance’ ( Duffy and Hund, 2019 ; Foster, 2022 ; Shtern et al, 2019 : 1951–1952). Calibrating authenticity by way of these relational practices is fraught with risk, as audiences can (and sometimes do) levy ‘critical blowback’ against influencers who are either ‘too real’ or not real enough ( Duffy and Hund, 2019 : 2986).…”

“…They are known, for example, to ‘feign’ intimacy through public-facing messages, comments and audience replies ( Marwick and Boyd, 2011 ). These comments and replies help to foster perceptions of authenticity and relatability ( Foster, 2022 ), but are not without risk ( Duffy and Hund, 2019 ). Still, audiences responded well to and, as my data shows, requested greater engagement amid the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging Instagram’s otherwise polished posturing and ambivalent perfection.…”

Everyone Stop What You’re Doing and BeReal: Live Networked Publics and Authenticity on BeReal

“…The status-seeking cultures of social media emphasize the importance of appearance, and the popularity of content that reproduces particular lifestyles can lead to pressures or anxieties around looking perfect (Foster, 2022). While the logics of self-promotion and branding may have different impacts on those who use social media platforms professionally versus those who use it more casually, they have the potential to affect the behavior or perceptions of all users by transforming the mediated aesthetics of authenticity.…”

Lovers in a Digital Time

“…In dating profiles, the ''impression of normality'' can depend on a certain level of social, cultural, symbolic, and economic capital (p. 106). Displaying authenticity on social media can require conspicuous signifiers of style and taste via clothing, grooming, and other props (Foster 2022). What is more, echoing insights from cultural sociologists, Bergstro ¨m finds that people often seek matches within the ''same referential universe'' of class-based cultural affinities (p. 109).…”