The problems of identity that stem from the negative spreadable media and viral media of our social world

Hi, my name is Ethan Mueller a communication major at Texas Lutheran University and I will be producing my first blog post to further my research for my project over identity work on social media dealing with specific issues of finding the "self" online or on the web. I hope to find the reasoning behind the problems that come from misinterpreting what it means to be yourself as well as what others want you to be. Taking from theories like Erving Goffman's 'Presentation of Self' between 'front stage' and 'back stage' behavior applying this to the understanding people have of what it means "to be yourself" through the identity performance stated by Lee Humphreys in The Qualified Self. What I fear is by analyzing the identity work found on social media I will find social media in a more negative view as well as my viewers of my blog/research. I want to show that if knowledge is given and  that acknowledgements by users are given of these media platforms I can make a change when it comes to identity work and creating a positive environment for all to achieve their "I" as well as "me" in peace. As for this first blog post still working on getting participants for my research I wanted to accumulate all the views, likes, and shares together for the viewers of my blog to truly grasp the magnitude and impact spreadable media has on the ever changing and sometimes dangerous environment many young adults are in when on their social media sites. Showing both positive and negative trends that I will be following throughout my research of my participants and the impact they have on them. This will be a vital piece in understanding how impactful things are on the identity work of a person online.

            Media is constantly spreading, there are always new trends and threads being shared and retweeted. Whether that be from a meme page or from a political page there is always something new to find out there to share. “Spreadable media” is a very interesting circulation of material; it could be on the discovery page on popping up because it popular amongst friends. The introduction to it gave a really good understanding of the subject matter as having “stickiness,” but I like to think of it as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because on one side spreadable media is thorough and adhesive to the bread (a social media user) but it also has the jelly that never truly sticks to the bread sometimes it is in a constant state of slipping and sliding the bread around for some reason and then some of it gets on you because it falls out of the sandwich. I apologize if I’m making you hungry but the way media spreads on an individual is a very important thing to grasp especially in our social world today and I would like to dive deeper into understanding what can really happen to someone when they are enveloped in this unforgiving realm of funny memes, publicity for companies via ads, and the mystifying way viral trends can make a turn for the worst when it comes to shape the digital vision one creates for themselves shaping their digital world around them from the popular videos and unforgiving pop-ups that block your line of site to social media pages.
 

We go from this found on dark._.side._.memes instagram page, getting tons of likes (87 likes) and re-shares due to the duplication of the post by other meme pages that every stars wars fan boy gets a kick out of it but what about the constant retweeting and sharing of post that are harmful and misused by companies/popular social media figure heads. What determines what is right to be posted when sometimes it is not up to the viewers to determine what is shared and what is left to be recycled for another day? A viral trend that is infectious ever since it’s creation is the #inmyfeelingschallenge which has been going on ever since Odell Beckham Junior (Instagram: obj) was videoed dancing to the new song ( 8,794,346 views) and has taken off into a dance video challenge that has been duplicated so many times that almost everyday that I get on to my twitter I see yet another video of another person doing the dance. This is an annoyance at times but it is so interesting to see how easy something can catch on but what makes it an okay trend to follow, do we really know when a trend has gotten out of hand or can we lose who we are when it comes to following something as in the theory found on the reaction video page for our reading? Associate Professor Lisa Aziz-Zadeh is quoted by pigeonsandplanes.com talking about “Motor Neurons” where one not only acts but also can experience the same action that they have seen from someone else. What I am trying to get at is when is something not okay to spread on the media because being an avid meme guy you can catch me at least once or twice imitating the memes that I have found funny on my social media pages. A good example of this is the tide pod memes that were all the craze a while back, where kids were found actually eating the pods thinking they were going to be cool because of the constant push that they were supposedly for eating (Twitter meme account for images: Tide Pod memes)(instagram duplicate post had 615 likes).

Sometimes people especially kids at a young age with no knowledge of what tide pods were became victims of this sick joke that seemed to follow the typical memes and posts found throughout social media talking “ending it all” or “If I get 200 retweets I’ll check (with the added picture of their significant other). These post go viral all the time, although not marketing anything they appeal to people for some reason. Sometimes especially on social media pages like Reddit people post and repost absurd things that could be detrimental to other online users of that site, making it hard to understand what should truly be in the spectrum of “spreadable media” when it comes to not attack others online as well as securing the identity performance of all kinds of individuals. Spreadable media should have something for everybody to spread viral and sent it out to one another but I feel like as time has gone on there has been no real filter of negative media on topics and people making it hard for someone to stay away from the typical dangerous and dumb trends like the tide pods but instead hopefully show their true performed identity on social media. Although the real debate would be on whether or not this spreadable system of media could ever be changed for the better and with the use of the chapter and the outside information I had obtained I doubt we could but I would be interested in what others have to say.