The 'specular economy' refers to a type of two way mirror in which every day people are becoming more involved in developing social media 'persona's' the way in which celebrities do (Marshall, 2010).
We are becoming more and more concerned with how people judge us, or how they speculate.
With the growth of new technology, in particular social media via the Internet, we are becoming ever more obsessed with sharing our private lives and intimate details with the public sphere (Marshall, 2010). The first part of the "mirror" is that which we project outwards, the things we say, photos we post and the overall image we present. However, unlike television and film, social media allows for the audience to respond and interact with the media in a way like never before. This is the second half of the mirror (Marshall, 2010).
For many years print media has controlled the 'gossip' of celebrity life, but with outlets like Facebook and Twitter, this gate-keeping is circumvented and we are even more able to see into the private lives of individuals, even more able to stalk, lurk and follow the people of interest to us.
As being part of this generation myself and establishing social media outlets, such as MySpace, Facebook and Instagram, just to name a few, I have often thought about how people might perceive the things I post. Whether I'm coming off 'too depressed' or 'too fake' or 'too weird,' I have often shaped my 'mediated version' of myself to how I want to be best represented.
I have often seen friends post very private information, usually often to do with relationships for example, that really shouldn't be in the public domain. I have other friends who appear to have the most perfect life, happy relationship, great job, great friends, everything is great. But it is all simply by what they choose to share, and what they choose to keep private. These types of things emphasize the shift from private and intimate boundaries to the public world where you are put on show.
We are in a society where there is a constant surveillance, not just by CCTV cameras on the streets, but where our social interactions and representations are constantly monitored by the cyber-world which we engage in.
We are in a society where there is a constant surveillance, not just by CCTV cameras on the streets, but where our social interactions and representations are constantly monitored by the cyber-world which we engage in.
Resource; Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502
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