Class Research on Beauty perceptions due to social media influence and cultural norms.

May 11, 2015

Beauty A.

Hi Guys,

I am doing a netnography research project for my course at the moment and I would very much appreciate if I could have some of your thoughts on the following questions:

1. Has the introduction of social media and today's cultural media norms contributed to increased insecurities for beauty perceptions I.e the pressures to have the perfect picture or persona online, e.g. how did you guys feel the time of the no makeup selfies and the negativity that some pictures had received when the idea and concept was for an important awareness and raising funds for important research yet it still received negative comments to put make up back on?

2. Does these type of forums influence your decisions to purchase particular products e.g. would it influence you to buy a particular bronzer, foundation or brand?

If you could help me out, I would be very grateful as it is my final year college research project.

Thanks so much in advance

May 11, 2015

Breeze T.

This is very interesting, and welcome to BL!
I feel like even non-professionals can now photoshop their pictures and perfect them even when they're not wearing makeup. A lot of people have insecurities because of this but I think that nowadays we are very aware of how fake most of these images are.
In all honesty, I can see a difference compared to past years in that we all used to be so insecure, but now it seems like we're more confident, to the point of becoming narcissistic.

As for your second question, I think it depends. It's nice to find other beauties who share the same passion and sometimes we enjoy suggesting products to each other. BUT Beautylish is unique I think because the products each of us use are varied and we like to explore niche markets or specialized brands, instead of the same old items that are bombarded to us by paid Youtubers, Instagram "gurus" etcetera. So, I suppose that yes, Beautylish does influence what I buy, but not in a conventional way!

Are we going to be quoted on what we said? I'd prefer not, since this is just my personal opinion.

May 11, 2015

Beauty A.

Thanks Guys, you are giving some great thought provoking stuff. No breeze T, I will not quote you if you prefer not to be quoted but this project will only be seen by my lecturer and will not be used within a public domain:)

Cocoa C, the no makeup selfie I was referring to was for cancer research and it went viral across social media platforms where women took off their make up and donated to cancer research and though it was for an excellent cause there were a lot of negative comments made about how women should put the makeup back on followed by a load of meme's and so I wondered with perceptions like this in today's society that it was no wonder that people feel pressured to look a certain way in their profile across social platforms. I also feel like the media does play a strong part in the way we are perceived to look and therefore I felt this would be an interesting topic for research and would love to see if people have similar or opposing views on this.

There is no right or wrong answer, I would just love to see if the ladies on this are affected by any of these perceptions whether its yes or no and whether forums like this have contributed in their cosmetic purchases.

Your answers are great and I very much appreciate you contributing to this thread. I would love to hear any more thoughts you may have if you feel that you have more you would like to say and as I said this is not a public research project, it will only be used to facilitate my research project and only viewed by my lecturer.

Thanks so much,

Everyone's thoughts are welcomed :)

May 11, 2015

Paris M.

I used to spend literal hours trying to get my makeup just like the pretty girl in the magazine! Then I saw the difference and was actually disgusted with myself that I wanted to be so plastic and edited. After boycotting makeup for a month, I came back with the bare minimum, not even primer. It was the media that drove me away from makeup and the media that reeled me back in. You know that horrifies me that some women are being confident and then people are tearing them down. Shame on them. If I come to school with no foundation, you can shut your face, because you don't know if I pulled an all nighter or if I was lazy or overslept. If I come to school in orange foundation with a pathetic smoky eye and black lips, does that satisfy your need for me to wear make up?,

These forums do influence what kind of brand I buy just because now I know which products are good or bad. If I had the money for it I would buy all of Sephora just because I know from all the stellar reviews on here Sephora is great.

May 12, 2015

Alyssia D.

Some really interesting questions!
I think social media is starting to take over everyday life, with both positive and negative impacts.
The example you mentioned with the no makeup selfie - I think this was amazing the way girls were brave enough not to worry about showing their natural self in such a public way and it was a great way to both raise huge amounts of money for cancer research and for girls to stand up to the image pressures of today. It's hard to believe anyone could comment negatively on such a good cause but I think there are people who go on the internet and just be horrible for the sake of it, stemming from their own insecurities. It's disgusting what some people can do to put other people down and for no reason whatsoever. They use social media as a platform for their hate and that's the most negative part of social media, in my opinion. People who sit behind a computer being mean are just cowards.
On your other questions, I am definitely influenced by social media on the products I buy. I see certain products being used on instagram and it makes it easier to buy when I can see what they look like on somebody else.

May 12, 2015

Katie A.

Yes it has as most women think actually that social media drives the definition of beauty and influencing how we define beauty today. Social media is a visual medium so every day we see thousands and thousands of images posted to instagram facebook twitter etc. This impacts beauty because there is an opportunity to redefine it...specifically younger people are misusing social media tools given to them to create false impressions of themselves that are fueling their own insecurities as well as the insecurities of their peers.there has been research proven that there is a strong link between social media sites and depression. It can be overwhelming for someone between the ages of 12 to 16 to feel that they should look a certain way even tho this way may have be filtered..altered or retouched. Most of what there see in fashion pictures are retouched. Now young people have the unreal standards and body images being portrayed as nothing more as a fraud. Excessive photo shopping and retouching makes it virtually unimaginable for women to feel beautiful or good about the way they look when their comparing themselves to these models or even other women who have used the different apps for filtering/ photo shopping.women strive for this fake version of perfection. This is now a society where flaws are erased and insecurities are heightened. Only 2 percent of women around the world describe themselves as beautiful according to dove campaign for real beauty. So many women and me have had to deal with eating disorders and low self confidence because they are unhappy with what they look like. Photo shop takes the standard of beauty to far. It's hard to find a picture on social media where it hasn't been altered in some way or showing the more realistic notion of what beauty really is. Women will undergo cosmetic surgeries to fix the flaws they do not actually have...social media and today's cultural media norms has conditioned women and men to think that any imperfection is a mayor flaw that needs to be altered and if not altered they are not beautiful. And due to the insecurities woman have this is now leading to aggressive tendencies on social media...cyber bulling. When there frustrated with themselves or jealous of someone else's photos but cannot vent in real life they unleash their anger by attacking others anonymously on social media.Internet trolling is adding more negativity to the mix where women who should be supporting each other are insulting or leaving abusive messages to each other. Some women may show resilience to all the negative effects of social media while others are dramatically effected.

In relation to your second question :
Yes it would influence my purchase decisions as first of all these forums are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting on best products, comments and sharing of information. You can communicate with other people who may have tried or used this product and get their honest feedback. These forums have large audiences about the product they are selling / writing about so the comment section can have hundreds of people's positives and negative reviews of the product. The word of mouth on forums can have a huge impact on me buying a product. I can be very influenced by what others have to say on a product. If there's a lot of negative feedback on a product it would probably put me off...being honest. As a consumer I think these forums can easily influence your decisions to purchase a particular product...because as consumers, we trust each other a lot more than we would trust advertisers messages.