Hi! Today I examine how social media helps to create an online collective identity with the trend Get Ready With Me. I dive into Identity Theory (IT) used in sociology and the concept of performance introduced by Goffman to showcase how collective identity is created. Enjoy!
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Bibliography
Allaire, Christian. “TikTok’s ‘Get Ready With Me’ Videos Are a Comforting Phenomenon.” Vogue, January 4, 2023. https://www.vogue.com/article/tiktok-get-ready-with-me-videos
“Collective Identity | Definition, Theory & Examples.” n.d. Study.Com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-collective-identity-definition-theory-examples.html#:~:text=Collective%20identity%20refers%20to%20a,that%20goes%20beyond%20the%20person.
Bullingham, Liam, Vasconcelos, Ana C. (2013). “The presentation of self in the online world: Goffman and the study of online identities.” Journal of Information Science 39, no. 1 (2013): 101-112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551512470051
Davis, Jenny L., Tony P. Love, and Phoenicia Fares. “Collective Social Identity: Synthesizing Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory Using Digital Data.” Social Psychology Quarterly 82, no. 3 (2019): 254–73. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48588950.
Music used in the background:
BoDleasons, “LoFi Chill (Medium version).” Downloaded from Pixaby. https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-chill-medium-version-159456/
Media used in the video:
Klevzhits, Anna (@aqlevv). Instagram Reels. September 4, 2023. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cwx7nRuIfOH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Photographs used from Google Image Search with Creative Commons License.
- Identity, Alpha Stock Images, https://www.picpedia.org/handwriting/i/identity.html under Creative Commons License 3.0.
- Komplotan, Doodleprojects, https://www.deviantart.com/doodleprojects/art/komplotan-95322813 under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.
- Group of People Having Fun Together Under the Sun, Helena Lopes, Pexels, https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-having-fun-together-under-the-sun-708392/
- Image – Public Domain, https://www.rawpixel.com/image/6744074/vector-public-domain-woman-people.
- A Dance Performance, Reinhard Wolf, no changes were made, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Dance_Performance_%28249589763%29.jpeg under Creative Commons License 3.0.
Very interesting connection between Goffman’s theory and the GRWM trend! It seems very obvious that a person doing the trend is presenting themselves in a certain way and therefore, according to presentation of self, they are on the stage in that moment, performing for others. What is not so obvious, is that they are a part of a larger community online, connected by the trend or even perhaps brand deals. Goffman also wrote about “impression management”, which explains how people have an identity that is “presentable” and “acceptable” to others. Kind of like looking at yourself through the lens of others. I think that is very applicable here as it is a key concept for describing online personalities’s works.
Cool video!