Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Reality television shows have long been readily consumed and appreciated by mass audiences throughout the world. Recently, these shows have begun tackling modern social constructs such as identity, gender, popularity and social media use. Media providers are in constant competition to produce new hit shows. The Circle USA is a televised social media competition where participants must use their social media savvy to become the most popular contestant without physically meeting the other competitors. They have the freedom to construct any identity they wish using photos and text-based conversations. Only the viewers know their true physical identities and are aware of the tactics used by the contestants to navigate the political field of the social networking platform and gain favour. Using symbolic interactionism and conflict theories, this paper explores the relationship between the construction of identity on social media and communication with others on these online platforms. This paper seeks to outline how culture impacts our online production of identity as disembodied self-objects in order to gain online popularity. Through an analysis of the tools used by the contestants on The Circle USA, this paper aims to identify how regular social media users emulate these tactics on their own profiles and how these actions affect the construction of their real-world identities. The findings of this paper could be used in future cognitive psychological and communication studies to create awareness about how the way we present ourselves online impacts the way we view ourselves and others in the outside world.