What do you keep hidden?

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In the last five weeks that I have been a part of Twitter no one that I follow has ever tweeted a photo of their food – I suspect the main reason is because I do not follow any numerous of the food channels that are on Twitter – , they have however tweeted photos of their: shoes, cars, and holidays. Food is seen as an expression of self and cultural identity (Atkins & Bowler, 2001 p. 274) this can also be said about material possessions and experiences. The deliberate act tweeting photos of your new shoes can be interpreted as a deceleration of your wealth and ability to spend it or uploading photos of your 'private' family holiday can be a way for you to show that you are a cultured 'traveller' not just an average tourist.

As Dr Kuttainen (2013) said in the lecture this week "food is not just food" this can also be used for posts within a social network, these posts and not just posts they are intentionally tailored pieces of your life and experiences used to convey the aspects of your cultural/self-identity that you want others to see and suppress the other parts of your identity that you believe to be socially questionable, just like the Cajuns of Louisiana and their crawfish (Atkins & Bowler, 2001 p.274).

Reference list

Atkins, P., & Bowler, I. (2001). Food in Society: Economy, Culture, Geography. London, England: Arnold

 

Kuttainen V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 7, A Case of Rum [Power Point Slides] Townsville, Australia, Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

  Beattie S. (2011). Bursting the bubble. Retrieved from 
              http://www.stevenwbeattie.com/?tag=jaron-lanier

Image credits

Image retrieved from: http://www.stevenwbeattie.com/?tag=jaron-lanier