Portfolio Assignment #5
Sherri Bemis is a musician who uses her Instagram account to post photos of her children often. Although she does post some content only relating to herself, a majority of her photos are of her children. She does acknowledge in her Instagram bio that she is a musician, but her bio also reads: “Chugging coffee/singing songs/raising babies w/ @maxbemis in a dome home in TX” (Bemis, 2020). Being a mother appears to be a significant part of her identity and she communicates this through the many posts that she makes about her children. She could be classified as a “Mom Blogger.” However, she does occasionally make posts relating to her music.
One way that Sherri participates in self-branding is through her posts that address her experiences as a mother. Last month, she posted a photo of her pregnant stomach and described a dream that she had about her unborn child. She then told her followers to “Drop your weirdest pregnancy dream below if you got one” (Bemis, 2020). This is a common strategy that influencers use to get interaction from their followers. Furthermore, in Peters’ (1997) article, he wrote that influence power is needed for growing one’s brand. Bemis has also posted photos that advertise certain products, which is something that influencers often do when they have been approached by companies due to their popularity or power.
Furthermore, Marwick (2013) wrote that “identity expression is influenced by the perception of audience” (p. 358). When Bemis addresses her audience directly in the caption of photos, it is clear that she is at least partially influenced by them when writing the caption. Furthermore, she would probably not advertise products to people she did not know in-person. Therefore, the expression that she shows about her identity when promoting products is one that could only be perceived by those who view her social media. I’m including a picture from Sherri’s Instagram account in which she discussed a giveaway that she was doing for a lip balm company.
Sherri’s use of Instagram to promote products could be related to the following that Marwick wrote (2013): “different types of software invoke different social contexts” (p. 358). The author then described LinkedIn as a network where one will typically “post accurate and verifiable information” (Marwick, 2013, p. 358). When discussing the concept of flow, Braman (2016) noted that “evidence of flow must be both conceptually and operationally distinguished from evidence of perceptions of flow” (pp. 121 -122). Therefore, when examining how one presents the flow of information about themselves online, it is important to view how that information is interpreted as well. One presents their information accurately on LinkedIn because they know that it will be respected by employers. They are considering the perceived flow of information, and they present themselves accordingly.
