Traditionally, conspicuous consumption has referred to the physical display of high-status goods in face-to-face contexts; you won’t want to keep up with the Joneses if you don’t know that they have a Mercedes SLK or an in-ground pool. Fashion bloggers take pictures of their outfits and post them online, but they’ve also fully integrated the values of social media metrics, which position blog readership, number of comments, and so forth as indications of self-worth. Fashion bloggers try to present images of “authentic” style and fashion to engage their readers (and set them apart from traditional, presumably inauthentic fashion magazines), and moreover to appeal to potential advertisers and brands, who flood the successful bloggers with free clothes and invites to fashion shows. Online self-expression becomes valuable insofar as it is an instrument of attention.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 726