Essena O'Neill and Neoliberalism

Essena O'Neill is a 19-year old internet star who made global headlines when she posted a video on YouTube explaining her decision to quite Instagram, YouTube, and Tumbrl. O'Neill wanted to prove that "social media is not real life" (McCluskey, 1). She had quickly became Instagram famous with half a million followers. Due to her popularity many companies reached out to her to promote their products as it was a much cheaper way for them to sell products, then pay for professional advertisements. With her huge following she had the ability to reach them online and only further promote such products. O'Neill decision to quite the social media platform Instagram was a shock to many. In this case I would have to say that by quitting social media, Essena O'Neill recent actions are more a characteristic of "neoliberal economic principles" rather than oppositional to it. Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristics of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, who democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency.

Essena doesn't want to be seen as anything but authentic, which is one of the big reasons she renamed her account Social Media is Not Real Life and re-captioned many of her photos to describe the great pains she took to ensure her "authentic" life looked wonderful (Garrett, 1). She didn't want to be told what to wear, how to look, what was right and what was wrong especially for a companies benefit . In a way her social media accounts took over her life because she let them. She was no longer participating in them because she wanted to, but because she felt pressured to. The line between public and private became blurry. Validation plays a huge role in the value that is created through social media. That validation can be anything from the amount a likes a photo gets, to gaining more followers, or simply receiving gratifying comments on your photos. So, instead of monetary value, value was created through the ways listed above for O'Neill. 

Van Dijck brings up an important point. He explains " “Connectivity derives from a continuous pressure – both from peer and technologies – to expand through competition and gain power through strategic alliances. Platform tactics such as the popularity principle and ranking mechanisms…are firmly rooted in an ideology of that values, hierarchy, competition and a winner take all mind set,” (Van Dijck, 21). As mentioned earlier neoliberism sees competition as the defining characteristics of human relations. Competition exists all over social media especially in Instagram. At first O'Neill was a fan of how popular she became, and that companies wanted to use her account to promote their products.  She obviously wanted to get as many followers and likes as she could, so that she could be more popular online then other insta famous people. As well as the more popular she became, the more companies would want to use her to promote their products. In terms of "strategic alliances" this would be O'Neill herself and the brands/companies she promoted. Both parties were benefiting in one way or another. The companies got cheap promotion for their product. and O'Neill received compensation as well as a larger following on social media, making her more popular online. 

O'Neill also made a video "Love Gets Likes" where she talks about how a famous male supermodel approached her for a relationship in order to make the two money and increase their popularity. This is another example of "Strategic alliances" that exist in the social media world. There are other couples online who have committed to such relationships for the purposes of rewards and compensation. This is popular among social media starts, especially YouTubers. Of course O'Neill doesn't know for sure if these partnerships are genuine or not, but she admits that some pairings might actually be business deals, as it is something that has become popular especially in recent years (Parkinson, 1). By quitting social media, O'Neill strived to receive validation and social value from her own goals, instead of relying on social media. 

O'Neills message clearly shows characteristics of neoliberal economic principles, but I do see how some of her actions show the opposite. For example her admitting that her participation in social media accounts has made her essentially unhappy with her life. She argues that social media promotes in authenticity as it has pressured her to act, look, and behave in a certain manner. By her posting her thoughts on social media like YouTube, is a contradiction to the message she is trying to promote to others. Her complaining about the inauthenticity of social media through a social media platform that has been edited so only what she wants audiences to see is shown is a perfect example of that. In conclusion, O'Neills reasons for wanting to quite social media should be applauded as there is a truth to it. However, the way she went about promoting that message needs some work. 

References: 

Garrett, J. (2015, 11 04). Hipster Barbie Quites The Internet, Leaving us Without a Hero . Retrieved from Wired : https://www.wired.com/2015/11/socality-barbie-quits/

McCluskey, M. (2016 , January 5). Instragram Star Essena O'Neill Breaks Her Silence on Quitting Social Media . Retrieved from Time : http://time.com/4167856/essena-oneill-breaks-silence-on-quitting-social-media/

Parkinson, H. J. (2015, November 11). The Guardian . Retrieved from INstagram star Essena O'Neill calls out fake social media couples : https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/11/instagram-star-essena-oneill-fake-social-media-couples

Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.