Idols of Promotion: The Triumph of Self-Branding in the Social Media Age

Abstract

YouTube stars, Instagram influencers, and other social media personalities have achieved an elevated status in the popular imagination. This work-in-progress situates the valourization of digital fame in a socio-historical context, invoking critical theorist Leo Lowenthal's [20] "mass idols" framework. Examining the content of magazine biographies in the decades preceding World War II, Lowenthal identified a marked shift in cultural exemplars of success: from self-made entrepreneurs, politicians, and other "Idols of Production"---to the stars of cinema and sports, "Idols of Consumption." As an extension of Lowenthal's analysis, we examine contemporary magazine biographies (in People and Time) and self-authored social media bios (on Instagram and Twitter). Based on a preliminary analysis of the magazine content and social-media profiles---including the crucial shift to self-authorship---we outline a new generation of what we call "Idols of Promotion." These digitally networked public figures, we argue, straddle the realms of production and consumption as they labor to create and project a distinctive self-brand. We identify three key tropes that shape narrativizations of idols in the social media age: (1) a spirit of self-enterprise that crosses industry boundaries; (2) a promise of meritocracy; and (3) a call to express oneself authentically. After examining these tropes, we conclude with an examination of their ideological function: such mediated hero-worship, we contend, indexes larger anxieties about the individualization of work amidst a precarious economy.