Portfolio Assignment #5
One of my favorite influencers is Amber Scholl. She is a lifestyle blogger and YouTuber.
Marwick’s “Online Identity” states that identity can be constructed through mass media and consumer goods, and on social media is often expressed through customization (358), and this is very apparent with Amber. She uses fashion and designer culture to cultivate a highly specific, yet stereotypical, identity.
Her Instagram and Youtube pages gain the most traffic and are the two apps she is the most active on. On her Instagram, her feed presents her as a beautiful, young and rich bachelorette that lives ‘the good life’ through traveling around the world and buying expensive things. Her feed is filled with images of designer handbags, diamonds, luxury cars, and most notably — her extravagant outfits.
Her use of consumer goods communicates ideas about who she is, as well as support her own, apparent, subjective view of self. Customization is a big factor on Instagram since aside from photos there are limited ways to communicate identity on the platform. On her Instagram, Amber spells her name “Amber $choll,” which doesn’t seem like a big deal but this simple, deliberate act establishes her brand as a wealthy girl who enjoys money and the finer things. Her Instagram bio, “i enjoy long walks at the mall” even further communicates this.
Also, her use of captions like “stop thinking about him go shopping” reinforces her identity and also adds an air of fun and aloofness to her personality, further developing her brand. The reading also stated that people use social characteristics like race and gender to establish their identity, and with Amber, her identity as a woman is central to her brand. She is the beautiful, young and rich bachelorette that doesn’t have a care in the world, and her social media needs to back that up.
On Youtube, her content is slightly different. Instead of highlighting her life, her content is more user-driven and features a lot of DIY tutorials that help normal, middle-class people make clothes or furniture that look designer/expensive. On Youtube, Amber seems less like a ‘bubble gum, girly hype beast,’ and instead seems more knowledgable and down to earth. The reading also highlights how our identities shift depending on context (where we are), and in this case, the type of social media we use.
In terms of this week’s themes and how they relate to my keyword, I think that the idea of the “cloud” is essential to our online identity. Branding ties in a lot here. When we think of the cloud, we automatically think of Apple’s cloud first, despite the fact that there are many other clouds designed by major tech companies. For many people, their iPhone is an extension of themselves. They have it on them every second of the day and their personal photos are on there along with texts, personal apps, etc. With the Apple cloud, everything is shared between devices, so this then applies to our MacBooks, iPads, etc, and they too become pseudo-extensions of ourselves.
This is where our trust in the cloud (and cloud-sharing services) comes in. Not only does the sheer ease and convenience contribute to our lack of concern in regards to sharing our personal data, but because of our attachment to these devices and the feeling of personalization attached to it, we let our guard down. If our online presence mirrored our real lives, then we could consider our cloud our home. Our cloud feels like something tailored to us, owned by us; a part of our digital selves.
