Blog Post 10/26/2020

The Caroline Calloway story as well as the definition of opinion leaders in the influencer study struck a cord with me because in a broad term, they are descriptions of someone who is selling something they don’t have. While I think the connection between visual imagery and truth has shrunk a great deal, there is still the assumption that a picture holds truth, that seeing a person in a far-off place means that they were there. In turn, this allows that picture to be sold, an I-did-it-so-you-can-too type sale, based off of the trust that traditionally accompanies proof from pictures. We also see this with opinion leaders such as Trump, except he uses words associated with truth: “I will…,” and “I am…” I think this breakdown between truth and social media, or rather a building of new truth within social media has caused social media to  enter into a loop, where something is sold or promised that cannot be delivered, and the same platform it was delivered on is then used to set the record straight. When the record is set straight, the same language or imagery that was used to do so can then be used to sell or promise something that cannot be delivered, and the record must be set straight again.