Essena O’Neill was a 19-year-old Instagram model that
was very popular within the online community. With hundreds of thousands of
Instagram followers, it made sense for different brands to pay her to promote
their products – she had the reach. While O’Neill’s actions when she “quit
social media” showed both
characteristics and opposition to Van Dijck’s “neoliberal economic principles
of the culture of connectivity of contemporary social media platforms,” her
intention was ultimately characteristic of this notion.
In terms of neoliberalism, the shift from public
(companies and brands) to private (Essena O’Neill) is quite apparent in her
desire to achieve individualism. She no longer wanted to dress in a certain
way, pose in a certain way, or have a product placed at a certain angle for a
company’s benefit simply because they told her so. In the context of social
media, forms of capitalism can be seen; instead of monetary value, value is
created through the amount of “likes.”
As Van Dijck 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). In this situation, these “strategic alliances” then she mentions
refer to O’Neill and the brands that she promotes. Together, O’Neill and the
company are both benefitting – the company gets promotion for their product,
O’Neill gets compensation; the company provides the money, and O’Neill provides
the audience. However, by shifting her attention back to her own goals instead
of the company’s goals, she takes a neoliberal approach to gain social value as
a private entity.
Although her attempt to defy hierarchies, competition
and obsessiveness over Instagram “likes” showed positive characteristics of
neoliberalism, Essena O’Neill also contradicts herself by showing oppositional
characteristics of neoliberalism. O’Neill argues that social media “makes her
miserable” and essentially cries about how social media promotes
inauthenticity, social hierarchies and struggle to look, act, or be portrayed a
certain way. The way that she voiced this opinion using social media services
such as YouTube completely contradicts the message that she is trying to get
across. While she complains about inauthenticity and fakeness, her YouTube
video that has since been taken down has clearly been edited, omitting
information and only displaying parts of the video that she wants the public to
see. Although it is now for her own self rather than on a company’s behalf, she
maintains social hierarchies by competing for YouTube views. She clearly wanted
her message to spread across the Internet, and the way to do that is to promote
herself online, just as she did through Instagram – the only difference is that
the actual message was different.
In addition to her YouTube video, she soon after
launched a blog basically stating that because she was not getting paid by
sponsors anymore, she was poor and could not afford rent. She openly asked
anyone reading her blog to donate money to her, stating “if this [website] is
of value to you then please support me because I can’t afford my own real
life,” (Daily Mail). Now instead of asking for capital through likes, she asks
for actual money. Instead of using her high social status to tell others to buy
a product, she uses her self-claimed low social status to tell others to buy into
her new lifestyle.
Essena O’Neill’s recent message has shown characteristics of neoliberal economic
principles, however her actions
showed the opposite. It is great that she wanted to speak the “truth” and move
away from corporate and government control in order to live by her own rules,
but she still promoted value, hierarchy and competition through her YouTube
video and blog.
Grant Geary, Belinda. (3 Nov 2015). "I can't afford real life: Instagram model, 19, who quit her online celebrity life because it was 'dishonest and contrived' issues tearful appeal for public to PAY for her new, simpler existence." Daily Mail. Web.
Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
I really enjoyed your point about how Eseena contradicts herself in her actions. It is clear that she wanted her message to be widely spread so she used the exact thing she was attacking to spread her message. I enjoyed how you talked about her asking her followers for money. Before she was promoting products and trying to get her followers to buy them, not she is just trying them to as you said "buy into her new lifestyle" I think that is a very important point. Overall, great post Jess.
ReplyDelete