What does it mean to be ‘authentic’ on social media in 2024?

The year is 2019. You snap a selfie and want to post it on your Instagram Stories. You swipe right to add the built-in “Paris” filter, and instantly, your skin seems airbrushed, your complexion brighter, and the fine lines under your eyes that you’ve been desperately smearing eye cream on disappear.

This pursuit of flawless, airbrushed perfection was the norm back then, set by influencers with meticulously curated feeds.

But today, social media filters have evolved beyond mere beauty enhancements. Platforms like Tiktok have taken filters to new heights, offering effects that go beyond mere aesthetics.

Take Tiktok’s face shape filter, designed to educate users on makeup and hairstyles that complement their face shape. Its popularity is evident from the staggering 356.6 million posts featuring the face shape filter.

Similarly, the “red flag” filter, where users discover three hypothetical red flags about themselves, has also become extremely popular as it humorously reveals personality traits.

“I think I started seeing such filters around a couple of years ago. They’re fun, and can actually serve as conversation starters sometimes,” says Sasha Bagaria, a 24-year-old who works in digital marketing. “For example, my friends and I all did the red flags filter, and it got us talking about red/green/ beige flags and our dating preferences.”

These filters have become a medium for exploring who we are, not just how we look. “The popularity of personality-based filters reflects a societal shift towards introspection and self-awareness among younger demographics,” says psychologist Dr Rachel Wong.

“In today’s digital age, social media has become more than just a platform for sharing photos; it serves as a mirror for self-reflection and exploration of identity. Personality-based filters invite users to engage in a deeper level of introspection. These interactive tools prompt individuals to consider their preferences, values and emotions in a playful yet meaningful way.”

Embracing the beauty of impermanence

Once simple beauty-enhancing tools designed to perfect our selfies, they have evolved into something much more complex and expressive, mirroring changing attitudes toward how authenticity is presented in modern-day social media.

“This trend towards authenticity can be seen as a response to the overwhelming saturation of highly curated, commercial content that dominated platforms like Instagram,” says Mark Johnson, a social media analyst.

For years, social media platforms have been flooded with meticulously edited images, sponsored posts promoting products, and influencers projecting an idealised version of life.

“This saturation has created a significant gap between the polished online personas and the reality of everyday experiences. Users are increasingly gravitating towards content that feels more genuine and relatable. Authenticity, in this context, represents a longing for transparency and sincerity in digital interactions – a departure from the pressure to conform to unrealistic standards perpetuated by curated content,” shares Mark.

Take photo dumps, for example. The rise of photo dumps parallels the evolution of social media filters. They are seemingly low-effort, random and unedited, eschewing polished aesthetics for spontaneous, unedited snapshots. They emerged as a “rebellion” against overly curated feeds.

Says 28-year-old pharmacist Ashleigh Sim: “Photo dumps felt rebellious, especially when they first started trending, I actually first noticed the trend from [American influencer] Emma Chamberlain (@emmachamberlain), when she posted a series of seemingly random images – the cover photo was a bowl of strawberries, the next slide was a stack of necklaces, and the image after that was a very random photo at the beach. I felt like she was living in the moment and not overthinking about posting, which in turn, was very refreshing.”

The photo dump is nothing new, however – this of-the-moment approach has its roots in street photography, which often features candid, unposed moments that offer a glimpse into the human experience.

However, since its emergence a few years ago, photo dumps have ironically evolved into a trend where everyone – from celebrities to politicians – is posting one. On Tiktok, there are even tutorials on how to post the “perfect” photo dump.

Discussing his approach to sharing content online, sports and travel photographer Edmund Wong reflects: “When I’m thinking of what to put on my feed, I ask myself if I like what I intend to put out in the first place. If I’m not proud of it, I won’t put it out, even if I think others may like it. Still, we always grow as creatives – what we like now may not be what we like in the future. So, occasionally, I find myself going back to my feed and archiving some posts, as they do not accurately reflect my current creative state.”

It doesn’t necessarily undermine its authenticity at the time of posting, says Edmund. It’s more about how the creator’s perspective, style or goals may have shifted over time, leading them to reconsider what they want to present to their audience.

The curation of authenticity

Recently, Instagram rolled out a “Lately” feature for its Stories function, which automatically generates a highlight feed on your profile showcasing your recent Stories activities – thereby extending their life beyond the usual 24-hour period.

Other social media platforms – such as Bereal, once heralded for its promise of unfiltered authenticity during its launch in 2020 – have seen their user base dwindle. According to data from app intelligence firm Apptopia, Bereal’s daily active users nearly halved from October 2022 to February 2023, plummeting from 20 million to about 10 million. Since then, the number of daily active users has declined even further, dropping to just under 6 million active users in March this year.

The novelty of being real, it seems, has well and truly worn off.

With Instagram’s new Lately feature, which diminishes the spontaneous and less polished content that Stories offer, alongside the dwindling user base of Bereal, one might wonder: Has our interest in raw, unpolished content faded?

Charlotte Koh, a 22-year-old university student, downloaded Bereal in 2022. Initially, she liked seeing the “real side” of her friends’ lives, which were less glamorous compared to their Instagram highlight reels. However, after a few months, she grew tired of the nearly identical pictures of laptop screens and lecture classes, eventually deleting the app. Most of her friends have stopped using it as well.

“It’s not really the fact that it shows their everyday life, which I thought was interesting,” she says. “I guess it’s because the app was not necessarily this promise of authenticity and realness that we were expecting it to be. Instead of capturing genuine, spontaneous moments, it often felt like people were still curating their lives, just in a different format. The excitement of seeing ‘real’ moments quickly wore off when those moments turned out to be repetitive and unremarkable,” she says.

As for the Lately function on Instagram Stories, Georgina Lai, a 26-year-old legal executive, doesn’t feel that it takes away from the spontaneity of Stories.

“Most people post Stories because [the images] are not good enough to be a main post, but you kinda still want people to see what you’re up to. This new feature helps me to look back at some of my friends’ stories that I may have missed. Or sometimes, I’m just nosy and I wanna see what my friends have been up to,” she says. “I don’t think the new ‘Lately’ feature makes Stories more inauthentic, to be honest. It’s still in the moment, just that it’ll be up for a longer period of time than just 24 hours.”

Just be yourself

Ultimately, can you even “be real” on social media platforms? Authenticity has emerged as a buzzword, but what does it really mean to be genuine online?

“While we strive to showcase our genuine selves, [social media platforms] inherently nudge us towards selective portrayal,” says Mark. “True authenticity then becomes a dynamic process of aligning our digital presence with our values, acknowledging both the curated and candid moments we share. Can we truly be authentic? Perhaps not effortlessly, but with mindful curation, we can foster meaningful connections grounded in sincerity.”

As a Gen Z who grew up on a digital diet of the Internet and social apps, I’ve learnt that social media often encourages presenting a polished version of oneself. Filters, editing tools, and carefully crafted captions contribute to this curated image.

Despite this, I don’t think that we are necessarily inauthentic on social media – we’re just presenting our best selves and moments. It’s about finding a balance: using social media creatively while staying true to who we are offline. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, so too will our understanding of its role in shaping meaningful online interactions.