Social Climbing

 

The idea of people gaining social recognition through social media is not new concept, but with the new ability to pay for verification on Instagram, people are taking extreme measures to gain social recognition. The blue check represents social status, and allows users to have special features. There have been reports of people paying $15,000 just to get the blue check next to their Instagram, which is almost a third of the average income. The idea that people are willing to pay that much to receive gratification from online peers is a scary thought. It has been proven that if people are uneducated about social media and the potential negative effects, depression and envy can be side effects of misuse. This also shows how much celebrities and famous users are influencing people, leading people to do whatever it takes to become more like them, including giving up $15,000.