This is a satyrical article about Instagram that I recently found written by a girl named Olivia Muenter. For those of you that don’t know what Instagram is, it is similar to Twitter with the use of hashtags also, but it is a primarily picture based social media app where your “followers” can view, like, or comment on pictures you post. In the article Olivia discusses the selfie picture, shoe picture and the “foodie” picture of a meal that people typically tend to Instagram the most. In the beginning of her humorous article she states, “So I, like most people, post the things that are going to reflect the best aspects of my life and personality. Also my face. Because selfies. Why, yes, I do drink coffee at hip cafes and order things online from J.Crew. Oh, don’t mind me, just a picture of my new Nikes and me heading to spin class. Because I’m fit. Obviously (I’m not). Oh, look! I’m doing a juice cleanse. I buy peonies! I read books! I am well-rounded! I have shoes! You know, the important parts of my life. Anyway, as a sort of confession: here is what I’m really doing in all those Instagrams vs. what I presented to the world. Prepare to be shocked.” 

Olivia is a prime example of what Julie T. Wood discusses in Gendered Lives. In Chapter 11 of the text on the concept of gendered media use Wood states, “Girls and women also perceive media as allowing them to express themselves. They are more likely than boys to blog, create web content, and create profiles on social networking sites. In a recent study, Kate Bodey explored how girls in their late teens use media to develop identities.” What Wood is discussing about this idea relates to exactly what the purpose of Instagram is and specifically what Olivia is talking about in her article about herself and how she uses Instagram to control how people view and think of her based on the pictures she posts.