Tag Archives: Instagram

#normalizebreastfeeding gains attention

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By ELIZABETH GELBAUGH

On Sept. 22, Cindy Boren’s article in The Washington Post labeled a woman as an inspiration for pumping breast milk while running a half marathon.

Anna Young completed the Revel Big Cottonwood half marathon in Salt Lake City on Sept. 9, her first race since giving birth to her daughter five months prior.

“I thought it would be something the breastfeeding community would appreciate, but I had no idea I would get such a strong reaction. It’s been mostly positive and I’m grateful for that,” Young said in her e-mail to The Washington Post.

Breastfeeding, whether publicly or privately, has recently caused a social media frenzy, with the hashtag #normalizebreastfeeding popping up on Instagram and Twitter. Women have shared empowering photos of breastfeeding and created a supportive community for breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding mothers.

However, not everyone is expressing overwhelming support for this movement.

Six days later, Kristine Guerra wrote an article for The Washington Post about a man who punched his wife in the mouth after a male doctor witnessed her breastfeeding her newborn in the hospital.

According to a police report, Rafael Orozco became jealous and enraged when his wife exposed herself to feed her child, causing him to punch her and grab her neck. He even slapped the infant on the head before he was confronted by hospital staff.

The Washington Post has done an excellent job presenting both viewpoints of this issue while still remaining neutral in its reporting. However, when does neutrality for the sake of journalism wind up preventing change?

American women have many freedoms and privileges that women in other societies around the world couldn’t dream to have themselves, yet we are still encouraged to be embarrassed of our bodies and their life-giving functions.

With the outward support of respected mainstream news media, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, society can rid itself of this idea of openly and confidently breastfeeding as taboo. News media are meant to be the voices of the people and progress is unlikely without their involvement.

Fashion Week’s top ticket

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By MIA POLLACK

Every September and February, American designers prepare to show their freshly minted collection for the spring-summer and fall-winter collections ahead, bringing fashion lovers, bloggers, and celebrities to New York from all over the world.

Every designer has hype over his or her show or presentation: Who’s sitting front row, what bloggers are in attendance, and so forth. Even though New York Fashion Week just started Wednesday, the show that everyone could not stop talking about was Kanye West’s “Yeezy Season 3” fashion extravaganza at Madison Square Garden.

In addition to his fashion show, he debuted his newest album, “T.L.O.P.” or “The Life of Pablo,” which in the past few weeks has undergone multiple title changes until landing on this one.

The fashion show-concert was very much different from his show last season; where models were ushered in by the calls of drill sergeants. This time, Kanye started the show by thanking the individuals who helped and supported during the making of this album, as well as his wife and kids.

The models were ushered in on two large platforms in the center of Madison Square Garden and, according to Vanity Fair, were still for a good amount of the show. They just stood there, with about 100 others dressed in Yeezy on the floor beneath them.

I knew as of last week that the Yeezy show would be the hot ticket of the week, but I still did not understand what all of the hype was about. Yes the Kardashian-Jenner clan would be there or, as Kanye calls them, “the new Jacksons” on one of his tracks, but still?

I guess it’s because people have lusted after the looks of the K-family and editors like Anna Wintour of American Vogue and Carine Roitfeld of CR Fashion Book adore Kanye. Evidence enough can be found  in interviews and documentaries by both fashion moguls.

The other hype: I guess that the clothes sell for hundreds of dollars in the stores and the shoes go for a few thousand when being auctioned off online. The exclusivity of these items is over the top.

Does the sound “I wanna be like Kanye,” ring a bell?

Instagram star quits social media

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BY MEREDITH SLOAN

Australian model and Instagram star Essena O’Neill announced she was quitting social media this week via YouTube.

https://youtu.be/Xe1Qyks8QEM

According to ABC News, O’Neill, who had more than 700,00 followers on Instagram and 260,000 subscribers on YouTube, posted a shocking confession announcing that social media made her “miserable” and that online and mobile-sharing platforms can be unhealthy. She decided that she wanted to shut down all of her accounts.

 

According to CNN, O’Neill’s social media friends Nina and Randa Nelson published a YouTube video alleging she was doing this as a stunt to get more followers.

https://youtu.be/WB3HtCMfZic

All social media platforms have been exploding with both support and opposition for O’Neill’s stance. This debate has been a hot topic for news organizations alike.

 

I support O’Neill’s stance because her issue with social media is situational. She said that she didn’t like how the pressure to be perfect influenced her mental health. She also said that she wanted to set a good example for her younger sister and show her that she doesn’t have to be perfect and likeable online to be happy.

 

I do think that social media outlets are informative and necessary in this day and age for the spreading of information. Although, I don’t think that personal business accounts like O’Neill that promote unrealistic body images and clothing brands are necessary.

Instagram star talks about social media

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By SAMANTHA COHEN

This past weekend Australian Instagram star Essena O’Neill garnered a lot of attention after speaking out against social media

Her Instagram “fame” of more than 700,000 followers and YouTube channel of over 200,000 followers showed an inside look of her healthy vegan lifestyle and fitness advice.

She abruptly changed her Instagram name to “Social Media is Not Real Life” and deleted multiple photos replacing them with rewritten captions. She revealed the enormous amount of work and effort that goes into creating an image of her-self that in reality is not real.

I admire what O’Neill has done and her message is highly important in today’s society where social media are everything to millennials. I feel that this will allow the image of what looks like to be a perfect and ideal life, will show that things are not as perfect as they seem.

With female body image issues at an all time high this admission will show that no one is perfect. For example, O’Neill was particularly frank about her attempts to change the way her body looked in her photos re-captioning a bikini picture with “A 15-year-old-girl that calorie restricts and excessively exercises.”

O’Neill has been able to take the social media platform she has and put it towards social awareness.  Societal culture today promotes media and the fame that comes along with it, as being the ultimate accomplishment, by creating an illusion to an idea of a filtered life.

O’Neill says that everything she was doing was edited and contrived.

Numerous news media organizations from The New York Times to Teen Vogue to Yahoo each covered this story, which has truly become a major eye opener into the life of social media celebrities. I feel that this has really been the first time someone as shared what its really like. As someone who is a social media user, I find it highly interesting that what I see on Instagram might not be what it seems.

Body shaming grows across media

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By SAMANTHA COHEN

Body shaming and negative comments using social media outlets have become a major issue in society and has reached an all time high.

It has recently been reported all over the Internet on how supermodel Gigi Hadid slammed a body-shaming “troll” on Instagram. The model received negative comments on her body after posting a picture of herself in a bathing suit.

The newly founded word “troll” associated with online users who negatively comment on stories and a variety of posts online has become too common. Not only are trolls taking over social media with negative comments about others, but they are also commenting on political and social issues on news websites using defamatory language.

It is interesting that this issue is all over media outlets when there are numerous people dealing with trolls everyday. Body shaming has become a major issue that affects not only grown adults but children as well. For years publications of fashion magazines and articles in gossip columns have created an image that one has to look a certain way. This use of media has created the source of negative comments coming from trolls.

Facebook features keep us connected

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By ELAYNA PAULK

Facebook, one of the leading social media outlets in the world, is consistently growing and expanding.

Just recently, Facebook has updated its “trending” feature. This feature can be found on the right-hand column of the home page and gives the most trending topics that aren’t only popular within the Facebook world, but across the globe.

This feature keeps the discussions on Facebook relevant, and timely. While other social media sites like Twitter, also utilize the “trending” feature, Facebook eliminates the limitations by connecting us to constantly changing information around the world.

Live updates have always been one of Facebook’s strongest features, but as Facebook continues to expand that feature, it may be the reason behind Facebook’s constant success.

To date, Facebook currently has 1.49 billion monthly users. Also, according to Facebook 2015 reports, Facebook has 968 million active daily users. Of course, websites such as Twitter and Instagram are increasingly becoming more popular for teenagers and adults in their early 20s however, Facebook continues to dominate the social media world. There are numerous factors responsible for Facebook’s success. Features that currently keep its audience engaged and connected may be the secret to that success.

Kuwait’s influencers have social impact

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By HANYA ALKHAMIS

In the past two years, Kuwait has been booming with influencers like Fouz ALFahad and Bibi Al Abdulmohsen, Hassan Al Mosawi and Yalda Golsharifi. These are all familiar names to Kuwaiti society. All of these people are part of a sensation, a social media sensation. Influencing people to buy things such as shoes, hair products, makeup and also visiting new restaurants.

Most of these people are all part of a worldwide known company called Ghalia Tech, which is a marketing agency founded and established, by Abdulrazaq Al Mutawa.

Influencers are used to help market a product or an event or even a restaurant and get the people’s interest. Keeping people up to date of what is hip and new and getting everyone interested to go and buy the product. To be an influencer, one has to give up his or her privacy. How so? Your Instagram should be public and everyone should have access to it. You would be able to market the product using your Instagram and tagging the product’s company into the image you are posting. Being an influencer does not only mean giving up your privacy but also giving up your time, to traveling, shopping and even going to more outings.

You don’t need to have studied a certain major to become an influencer, which is a great opportunity for people who have no job opportunities in the field they have studied. Being a journalism major, I have been worrying about what sort of work I will do once I graduate and this might be an option. I am also thinking of taking this summer as a great opportunity to work an internship at Ghalia Tech to practice my journalism skills and see what an influencer can and can’t do in depth.

Are social media trusted news sources?

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By KYLA THORPE

I feel like the way that our culture is now, social media are now considered an official news source. Whether screen-shotting a tweet off Twitter or pulling a picture from Instagram, the candidness of these platforms appears to be what the public likes to see.

When was the last time you actually sought out to see a press release, for any recent? Even a news report from a trusted news source. Readers today don’t want to take enough time to read all of that. They want to know what happened in a single picture, or 140 characters or less.

So what does this mean for the future of journalism? Obviously we will always need writers. And as for photographers, a camera phone will never compare to the clarity living inside a Nikon D-5000. But, still, half of the time when something happens in the news, there’s an image of a public figure’s tweet or a video someone took at a moment’s notice.

Maybe writing styles will become more lax, I don’t know, but it’ll be interesting to see in the future how much more accountability that social media holds. We no longer live in an age where we need official reports and public speeches. It’s enough for us to see a picture on a verified social media account and we trust it.

Realty TV star lands on Vogue cover

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By NICOLE LOPEZ-ALVAR

After months of speculation, the day is finally here—Kim Kardashian is on the cover of the reputable Vogue magazine.

Yes, it’s true. A notoriously famous reality star turned model and businesswoman is posing for the most famous fashion magazine of the 21st century.

The Internet has been in frenzy from posts ranging from the overly ecstatic to the mournfully dreadful.  This is due to the star’s not-so-common start in the entertainment business, and most likely, the fact that she is posing with her fiancé, Kanye West.

Due to the Internet, fans and “haters” are able to soak up Vogue’s April issue with the dynamic duo through multiple platforms. These range from Twitter announcements and posts about the spread, to an in-depth video of the making of the photo shoot.

An example of said media advertising started immediately with Kim’s Instagram post on Friday. She posted onto her Instagram account stating, “This is such a dream come true!!! Thank you @VogueMagazine for this cover! O M GGGGGG!!! I can’t even breath!” The post was linked to a photograph of the magazine cover, as well as the vogue.com article itself. No less than six hours later, the post has generated 547,495 “likes” and the numbers keep on rolling in.

These sources of excessive insight are the ingenious ways magazines like Vogue use social media to promote their stories instantaneously around the world. Therefore, for celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, the hysteria on social media only makes the story surface more Web sites, more smart phones, and more bank accounts.

What makes this cover story relevant is the subtle hashtag underneath the caption of the photograph, which states “#worldsmosttalkedaboutcouple.” While this statement is a vast exaggeration, the hashtag serves two purposes — a clever nod to the fact that the couple’s Instagram followers combined ad up to 20 million, as well as a subtle advertisement for the social media sites that use such hashtags so people can follow the story and discuss it in an organized fashion.

Nowadays, through the use of social media, stars as hated as they are loved like Kim Kardashian, can cover more than one platform.

Overall, business models that incorporate social media are helping everyone involved generate more business and more income, while we sit here and continue to stalk the couple’s baby, North, on Kim’s Instagram page.