Essenna O'Niel was one of those cases where we wouldn't expect from a "celebrity", whether Hollywood, YouTube superstar to a Instagram celebrity to hit the front pages on a sensitive note.
Its no surprise that the strive to achieve that "perfection" in the fashion and modeling industry is a brutal and depressing adventure, where fortune and fame come at a cost, and that cost is the path through to get there and that the "winner mindset" isn't what its all cracked up to be (21).
Essena's actions and reasons behind her departure from her fame can be related to Van Dijks concept of the neoliberal economic principles. "Connectivity derives from a continuous pressure—both from peers and technologies" (21). In Essena's case, the followers on her Instagram and the app itself as the technology. With Instagram as the distributer of her pictures and the digital editing capabilities we have on computers, this technology can be used to exploit her Instagram account, making Essenna famous, the companies get free exposure, and the viewers get a taste of what a perfect figure should be like. Essena's argument certainly does have merit being how people are all having the need to be connected. Its only human that we have the desire to be social creatures and social media takes that to the next level with not just a group of friends, but having hundreds to thousands of followers. This hierarchal approach can fill in something that we desire, popularity and fame, but as Essena realized, it comes at a cost (21). Does Dijk's model apply? To an extent, it certainly does, paving some basics behind Essenna's motives. However it doesn't really define why everyone uses social media, nor Essenna's underlying point behind her message. In reality, Essenna's message to everyone should come at no surprise. To me, its another person demonstrating something that in the back of most consumers mind already know, the fashion industry is a distasteful, evil and dark industry to play in. People watch and want you for how you look, not who you are, and I think this is Essenna's way of, politely trying to express it without making it obvious of something we all know. Her message gained attention and popularity because its not something we all think of, and was a kick in the consumers mind about the reality of what those pretty ladies on covers, ads etc really go through, and that as consumers, we should be grateful we don't go through the horror they are put through, from the path to get there, to the photoshopped images that show they still "aren"t perfect".
Essena O'Neil was brought to a viral fame when she announced that she was 'quitting social media'. In her announcement, she made it clear that her with her devotion to social media, she was living an inauthentic life. Behind her posts on Instagram, she emphasizes the notion of how there is always an ulterior motive. The 'real side' of social media is composed of paid posts, sponsorships, and low self-esteem. With her announcement, there can be some coorelations drawn between the work of Jose Van Dijck and her "neoliberal economic principals". These principals are explained by "connectivity derives from a continuous pressure from both peers and technology to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances" (Baym 21). With this quote, it highlights the direct parallel to O'Neil.
Through her statement, she claims that social media is a business. With neoliberal principals. it is dependent on the users that are creating content. Those that are in this business are in constant competition to create engaging content that will continually increase their follower count. Van Dijck's framework highlights how there is an anxiety over numbers and what people say on social media as it is their identity. O'Neil had exactly these worries and claims that it lead to a slow deterioration of self-esteem through trying to maintain an image on her account. Through her own experiences of social media, it highlights the notion that this is a world that fosters competition all through the culture of connectivity.
It should be noted that despite O'Neil 'quitting' social media, she still maintains her instagram account and has created a new site called letbegamechangers.com. Upon reviewing the site, there is an announcement that states that she is coming out with a new book entitled, "How To Be Social Media Famous". It is with this that I argue, that by stating that an individual is "quitting" social media, it is another way of saying that they are attempting to not care about their followers, if their content is "good" or not, and not receiving payment for any promotions. If O'Neil has really done that, I think it is still to be determined.
Social media star Essena O'Neil recently quit stardom and it shook the social media world. From past social media articles such as 'The Queen of Instagram" users can see how the construction of day-to-day life can cause mental turmoil for these popular social media socialites. Essena O'Neil officially drew the line and said, enough is enough, "I'm quitting social media."
Drawing from Van Dijck's theory in the Culture of Connectivity that "social change is staked on neoliberal economic principles through the culture of connectivity, I believe that the reason Essena O'Neil made the decision she did stemmed from her inability to sell herself and her life as a commodity. I believe that her increase in popularity lead to an increase in contracts and vice versa all based on promoting rational self-interest controlled by the private sector. By attaining contracts from these private organizations, being their face, supporting their products she entered the system on a completely new level.
Essena O'Neil became a part of the hierarchy who are all in a competition to the top. More contracts equals more popularity. As such, I believe that she supports the claims of Dijck's 'neoliberal economic principles' by publicizing the mental threat it posed to her. For that reason, she has quit social media.
The recent actions taken by former social media "star" Essena O'Neill absolutely support Van Dijck's concept of neoliberal economic principles and their application to the culture of connectivity. Van Dijck states that
"Connectivity derives from a continuous pressure—both from peers and technologies--to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances.Platform tactics such as the popularity principle and ranking mechanisms. . . are firmly rooted in a ideology of that values hierarchy, competition and a winner take all mindset" (21).
One of the strongest examples that shows O'Neill's actions are supportive of this theory comes from an article from The Guardian where Essena details the surprisingly large presence of "fake" celebrity relationships across social media networks. In her exposing video, Essena says the following about the requests she had for these false relationships:
“He made it obvious he really wanted to pursue an online relationship. He thought that it would go crazy. He referred to other couples that had been doing it. He said we’d have all this free travel, that if we became a couple we’d both bump up our followers. We could make YouTube videos and make heaps of money. “He referred to a lot of people who were doing just that. And he said in the industry it is not unheard of to do this, that it is actually really smart and that I should think about it as a business proposal.” (The Guardian)
These fake relationships and the supposed perks that they bring are a clear example of the continuous pressure from peers and technologies (the man who wants to get together, and the followers/likes/subscribers it could bring) to expand and gain power through competition and strategic alliances (getting together with someone to have more followers than others, and greater financial gain). It is clear that social media stars obsessed with "winning" the competition to have a standout social media presence have placed these values above real human interaction, real relationships, and the establishment of a true identity. This example of fake relationships is just one magnified instance of the network of fake connections that exists in order to garner likes, followers, money, and power, and the way that real life is literally put on hold and often damaged in order to establish a "perfect" online identity due to this firmly rooted ideology. The Guardian - Instagram Star Essena O'Neill Calls Out Fake Social Media Couples: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/11/instagram-star-essena-oneill-fake-social-media-couples
Influencer’s like Essena O’Neill play an important role in the
world of social media. With her decision to “quit” social media, she confirms
Van Dijck’s idea that the culture of connectivity is one based continuous
pressure. Popularity originates both from the users and is also engrained in
the technology itself, through the intentions behind “likes”, “followers” and
other mechanisms.
Essena’s
denouncement of social media was, at the surface, her coming clean about all
her endorsements and the effort put into framing her image online. Her social
presence was egged on by her popularity, and further edited to cater to it. Her
move to expose the careful framing behind her lifestyle can be seen in her
edited captions on her Instagram posts. Even though she claims to stop being
sponsored from companies, she still uses her popularity to spread her message
of her newfound enlightenment. By directing fans and followers to her personal
website, www.letsbegamechangers.com
as well as asking for donations, Essena still uses her popularity and interacts
in collusion with social media, which she is trying to attacks.
Despite
her criticisms, social media has been built to create people like her, and to
support ideologies in a capitalist society. There is still a drive to get more
likes, gain more followers and ultimately “make it to the top”, like Essena.
However, there is no winning at this game, but despite hat so many of us
continue to play. These systems are in place to promote neoliberal economics,
and do it so efficiently and effectively, and for this purpose – insidiously. As
someone who claims to understand the inner workings of this, why does Essena O’Neill
continue to use hashtags, ask for donations and create websites?
#falseadvertising
