Social media has changed how people get information and communicate in many ways. We are not just consumers of media. With social media and new technology and tools, we also can easily make, change, and share media.
There are images everywhere generated by commercial activity and a wealth of research looking at the impact of mass media on body image of men and women. Since the advent of social media, however, we now have access to a wealth of images that are predominantly not professionally produced. There are over 2 billion YouTube videos, 500 million Facebook profile photos, and 70 million LinkedIn profiles and that doesn’t include the images you see on Twitter, Flickr, and a host of other social network sites.
One of the tenets of social media is that you can’t control your message, you can only participate in the conversation. Has the flood of “real” images from social media influenced the conversation about body image and what we view as social norms? Help us find out.
This study looks at the influence of the many media images on how people see and present themselves. Please participate!
Click here to take the Social Media Survey
About Dr. Pamela Rutledge
I think this is a fascinating topic. Another interesting angle to examine – while our exposure to images of “real” people has increased through social media, so has our desire to put forth a carefully constructed “virtual” version of our self. Perhaps our obsession with appearance has just shifted outlets – we may feel better about our body image, but more pressure to maintain our online/social media image.