Mediated Authenticity: The Construction of Reality in Social Media Vlogs
Abstract
With the gradual integration of social media into daily life, Vlogs have become one of the most common forms of content in contemporary online culture. In contrast to traditional media, Vlogs are often characterized by first-person perspectives, everyday narratives, and displays of private spaces, which thus leads audiences to frequently perceive them as direct recordings of real life. However, this authenticity does not reflect a natural presentation of reality; rather, it emerges from the interplay of filming techniques, editing practices, visual design, and platform mechanisms as a mediated effect. Drawing on Erving Goffman's theory of self-presentation, Marshall McLuhan's media theory, and research on identity construction in social media, this article examines the mechanisms through which authenticity in Vlogs is produced, with a focus on the interactions among self-presentation practices, visual strategies, and platform logic. In particular, it analyzes identity performance, camera language, spatial composition, lighting and color, and algorithm recommendations, and points out that the authenticity in Vlogs is actually a perceptual experience shaped by media forms, rather than a direct replication of real life. Thus, the study argues that, within social media environments, authenticity should be understood as an ongoing mediated process rather than an inherent attribute of content itself.
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