Can you ever be fully authentic on social media?
Social media content is well known for its lack of authenticity. But people try to appear real and spontaneous (in other words, authentic) even when it is obvious their content and process is anything but.
Which begs the question; exactly what does it mean to be authentic online? And can you be authentic on social media?
To be authentic is to be true to who you are and show that person to others. Social media, in the way that we use it, fundamentally encourages the exact opposite. Between the influencers, celebrities, and other public figures, there is a whole lucrative industry around posting the perfect content online. And our consumption of such content has influenced our way of using it to follow their lead and set standards. Now, we spend extra time capturing, editing, and sharing only the most aesthetic moments of our lives to gain approval and attention.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? For most of us, we check our phones. That means we start our days viewing and consuming other people’s existence rather than our own. We see their life through a filtered lens — the highlight reel — that we unconsciously accept as real.
We forget that people only post the best parts and successful moments of their life, not the mundane everyday, not so happy things. The consumption of such content with no context makes it seem like real life is always like this. And so, we find ourselves comparing everything from our bodies, friends, foods, jobs, styles, and even our thoughts to those of strangers. Worse yet, we begin to adopt and imitate those things when it’s not representative of who we truly are. And in the process, we end up losing our real selves and authenticity.
The question of lack of authenticity online and how it can influence how we feel about ourselves are becoming more discussed and shedding light on ways to protect our mental states. The next generation is luckily more and more aware of the fact that what they see and experience on social media is not authentic.
In fact, two in three Gen Z’s say that it’s impossible to be fully authentic online for themselves or those they follow. And because they are aware of this, it doesn’t matter to them that those they follow are not 100% authentic 100% of the time.
Is there a way to be more authentic online?
Although it is difficult to be fully authentic online, are there any social media platforms that do encourage some level of authenticity? People seem to be more themselves on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, but it is not enough. This is where the new(ish) platform BeReal comes in.
In 2020, two French guys came up with the idea of building a more authentic social platform that would encourage people to show their everyday life. Great idea! But how does it work? Everyday BeReal. sends a notification to all users and asks them to take a photo of themselves with the surroundings at a random time. It gives them two minutes to complete and upload the photo which is available to everyone.
This way of using social media definitely provides a more authentic experience online.
What about you? Do you care about authenticity online? If so, would you use BeReal? Let us know in the comments!
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Noelie Ory, Fatima-zahra Boussine, Rose Dang, Marie Benazeth, Zineb Ahlal, Bola Ajibola
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminating the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.
