Essena O'Neill somewhat supports Van Dijck.

When comparing Essena O'Neill's resignation from social media to Van Dijck's ideologies of neoliberal economic principles, I feel like her motives both support and contrast the model.

Van Dijck claims that "Connectivity derives from a continuous pressure -- from both peers and from technology -- to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances." Her social media experience compares and supports Van Dijck's model because there was an unquestionable amount of pressure to achieve fame and power via social media. Essena's life revolved around her virtual life, being known around the world, and creating and uploading new content.

I feel, however, that the case of Essena O'Neill is slightly contradictory to Van Dijck since the pressure does not seem to come from just peers/fans and technology. There seems to be a strong personal agenda attached to O'Neill's past life. She 'wanted' the fame, and 'wanted' the stardom. She was receiving sponsorship deals for just being a character. She claimed that this social media empire was her way of spreading messages that she wanted to pass on. She had opinions on certain topics that she wanted to spread, hoping to make social changes. Although there was perhaps some pressure from fans, the biggest thing Essena said she was going to miss from social media was the ability to spread her messages.

Additionally, I believe that the idea of fan pressure is slightly true however not completely. Once Essena left social media I am sure there was some backlash from fans, however for how long? Are fans still out there complaining and uncontrollably loosing their minds with Essena's absence? Most likely not. Because of this I think that Essena O'Neill's resignation video only slightly supports the neoliberal economic principles that Van Dijck discusses.

Jamie Brackpool