‘She has like 4000 followers!’: the celebrification of self within school social networks.

Online social interaction has become integral to contemporary social life, adding new dimensions to how young people learn, interact, and perceive themselves and one another. This paper presents theoretical insights from a year-long ethnographic study within a Scottish secondary school, where participant observation and qualitative interviews were used to explain pupils’ informal social relationships. Here, pupils aged 11–18 constructed and negotiated a hyper-surveillanced social space within which many became (or strived to become) visible and ‘known’ amongst others and where online presentations of self were highly important. This facilitated a celebrity-esque culture amongst the pupil population whereby pupils learnt from and emulated macro celebrity culture and often framed social interactions as entertainment. Central to these practices, was a continual desire to ‘make gains in distinction’ by demonstrating high social status amongst peers. The paper explores the resulting implications for teaching, learning and pupil wellbeing within contemporary educational environments.

"Online social interaction was evidently widespread amongst pupils and integral to their culture. The majority indicated that social media sites and mobile apps (for example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp) were important to them, indicating that they ‘don’t know an awful lot of people that don’t have it.’ These young people spoke of accessing these sites ‘constantly’ throughout the day, mostly via smartphone devices with Wi-Fi access or mobile data. Pupils would check their phones during lessons, for example stealing quick glances under their desks as the teacher’s back was turned. They engaged with online social spaces for numerous reasons, one of which was a desire to feel connected with friends and to communicate with others not physically present." (MacIsaac et al, 2017: 822). "The data pointed to a culture where pupils were becoming celebrified. They ‘knew’ teenagers from other schools from their Facebook and Instagram profiles and followed them and their lives in similar ways to how they would traditional celebrities. This was also the case with high status peers – such as older pupils – within their own school. Pupils talked about popular peers who were, ‘really well known…everyone knows them,’ and a number of pupils strived towards becoming known amongst others in these vast social networks." (MacIsaac et al, 2017: 823). There were gender dimensions with girls being more impacted than boys: "In a context where the female body is so heavily surveilled and evaluated, these girls were acutely aware that they could achieve enhanced social standing by being known as ‘pretty’ or ‘hot’. Therefore, they may have had more incentive to post self-images, despite any risk of being negatively judged." (MacIsaac et al, 2017: 823). Self-representation techniques were based on high-profile celebrities.