Chapter 1

Reconfiguring and repurposing authenticity

In previous work, I have shown the importance of authenticity as a platformed directive for influencers’ self-presentation on Instagram Stories. In this chapter, with data from the same influencers, I focus on if and how the directive of authenticity presents any shifts during the period of covid-19, as a result of physical confinement and social distancing as well as of the public backlash against influencers’ posts with aspirational content. My analysis shows that, rather than abandoning formatted (i.e. normative and recognizable as typical) norms and practices of showing an authentic self on Instagram, influencers reconfigure and repurpose them in two ways: They reconfigure established connections amongst different modes, particularly with regard to amateur aesthetic choices at the visual level, to position the teller affectively in conditions of confinement. They also repurpose the algorithmically preferred format of sharing-life-in-the-moment so as to promote content suited to the new realities of a pandemic. These reconfigurations show the power of the formatting of stories and authenticity on social media.