Welcome to 2021, where the Instagram influencer is now a familiar part of society. The platform is saturated with endless fast-fashion hauls, promotions of detox teas that give you diarrhoea and tone-deaf content about jaunts to Dubai in the middle of a global pandemic. However, all hope isn’t lost: there are some influencers whose content…
Fashion
Influencers, Gossip Forums and Press Scrutiny: the Modern Culture of Bullying
On a dark corner of the internet, individuals who find themselves increasingly frustrated with influencers gather to share their grievances. Under the guise of anonymity, these individuals vent and unleash the rage that has been seething within them. Sometimes the discussions are productive, picking apart questionable decisions, words used or comments made that they find…
Fashion
Instagram’s commercial priorities: what has the app become?
Picture this: it’s 2011. You’ve just downloaded a new app called Instagram. You post a vignette-filtered picture of a sunset and get 7 likes: you are happy. Instagram still is, by and large, a photo and video sharing social network, but a recent update has shown users what Instagram has been slowly integrating for the…
#BLM, Comment
Social media activism: the dos and don’ts
Before I address the problematic use of social media in light of the most recent wave of the #BlackLivesMatter protest, I would like to acknowledge my own background. I am a white woman and I recognise that I come from a place of privilege. A year ago, before I came to university, I would not…
Arts, Venue
Arty Instagrams to check out during isolation
With the current lockdown eliminating the tactility of art, the shift to online has changed the way we experience it. Social media outlets, particularly Instagram, have helped fill the void once held by galleries showcasing their exhibitions. Instagram has become the worldwide art gallery, and has been crawling with artistic output in abundance, seeing artists…
Comment
Making the choice to go instagram sober
For a few weeks now, I have been Instagram sober. I decided to delete the app from my phone because I was terribly bored of my relationship with it. I’ve done this a few times before, when I grew irritated at seeing people I didn’t know out for dinner, or mindlessly scrolling through someone’s holiday…
Science
The science behind Instagram likes
Earlier this year, Instagram began to experiment with the removal of their ‘like’ feature; disabling users from seeing the number of likes other people had received. The experimental restriction has only been tested in Japan, Canada and Brazil, but now this is set to be rolled out in the US and the UK as well. …
Features, Interview
Beef, Brexit, and how uea(su) does represent UEA students
After a hectic week within uea(su) largely focussed on Union Council’s decision to stop the SU selling beef, campaigns and democracy officer Sophie Atherton and I sat down to discuss what she’s been getting up to in her second year within the role. We met in a bookable room in Union House, away from the…
Arts, Venue
How I changed my approach to art on social media
I’d like to say that I spent my summer in a beautiful exotic country, reclining on a sunlounger and sipping a Mojito. Unfortunately, this dream did not become a reality: my non existent wage as an unpaid intern meant that my funds stretched just far enough to buy the occasional Kinder Bueno from the Co-Op. …
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