Portfolio Assignment 5

Eddie Hall, nicknamed The Beast, is an Instagram body builder, fitness coach and the winner of the 2017 World’s Strongest Man Championship. His Instagram account has 1.9 million followers and over a thousand posts. He specializes in power lifting and bulk diet routines.

Hall communicates his identity online as a hyper-masculine caricature, and a preserver of family values. His Instagram bio relays his accomplishments as World’s Strongest Man 2017, and his highest achieved deadlift at 500 kg. However, he also highlights his identity as a father, a husband and a mental health activist. The Majority of his posts on Instagram are videos/photos of himself participating in high-powered lifting workouts with generally direct captions of what the purpose of said workout is for, and shoutouts to acquainted Instagram influencers that share his interest for lifting.

Hall participates in the practice of self branding by promoting his own merchandise and making light of his global attention. Through his Instagram account, the posts of his own content are accompanied by the posts of other outlets that feature him as his relevance as an athlete. He also has his own protein supplement product that he regularly promotes.

In the case of Hall, his identity plays just about every role in how he choses to use social media. His Instagram account is not hardly used for any other reason than to promote himself as a figure in the body-building community, with only rare personal pictures of him and his family to accompany. He does not use social media to promote anyone or anything else or highlight hobbies outside of body building. Body-building is the central theme of his social media use, as it is the central theme of his professional and personal identity.

This image exemplifies what I discussed because it illustrates the the core purpose of his public identity. He is participating in the act of power lifting for a large audience, which is essentially what he uses his Instagram account for as well.

These themes relate to my keyword of “internet” because the extent that our identities are manipulated and influenced by the internet are equivalent to the same extent the internet has influenced and manipulated other facets of our society, including industry, media, and pop culture. The internet breaks down the physical and social barriers around on how we chose to express our identity, the same way it breaks down the physical and social barriers of those other facets of society. Eddie Hall would still be an accomplished athlete if not for the internet, but he wouldn’t be Eddie Hall, the international celebrity that has been empowered by Instagram.