Who Are We? Fake Profiles

Like i said before i got really interested by the idea of catfishing. I know its complete trash but the show catfish does make you think about the motivations people have for creating these fake profiles, its not often malicious just people who want to hide behind someone elses selfies to communicate with others. Are these people really fake? Are they more themselves because of the anonymity theyve been granted online and is it more about the way they are treated by the person talking to them judging them on the percieved beauty of a stolen photo rather than how they actually look?

In my project i want to create a series of fake social media profiles built around a central character who is the 'real' person. How is she going to use the internet to create a better version of herself and is this going to ultimately be a positive or negative thing?

Staring off with Instagram, Kim Kardashian is the most followed celebrity Instagrammer and she's even published a book of selfies. After being inspired by that article about her to look at classical art and depictions of the goddess Venus my first fake profile is going to be the Venus. She is the ultimate woman and symbol of femininity. I constantly see people on social media, usually Tumblr being called out for photoshopping womens bodies to make their asses bigger, even Kim K has been caught doing this. Im going to take all these beauty and body trends (Instagram brows anyone?) that have been in part due to Kims influence and warp my body into the Venus. This profile is all about being seen as attractive and sexual which could maybe raise someones self esteem but if the images you put out into the world aren't true depictions of your body or looks or aren't even pictures of you could this self objectification make you feel even worse?

My second character is a negative influence in my real girls life, The Devil. For this I'm looking at Twitter trolling, i found this really good article by Lindy West on the guardian about her talking to a troll who had harassed her on Twitter which you can read here. This character exists as self punishment and torment for my real girl, putting down the other characters.

These are my two main ideas for characters but i have plenty of other social media sites to look at so who knows what will happen.