Social media and otherness: The case study of the beauty community “Live Tinted”

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Published: Mar 4, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/scad.44784
Keywords:
Self, Identity, Otherness, Social Media, Community, Live Tinted
Ifigeneia Tepetidi
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece
Αngeliki Gazi
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece
Zenonas Theodosiou
Cyprus University of Technology
Abstract

The present paper draws on a case study of an online, Instagram community and it aims to explore the connection between social media and the promotion of otherness. “Live Tinted” is a community, whose main goal is to bring into the spotlight of the beauty industry and beyond, individuals who embody otherness and the unrepresented. Content analysis is being employed on the posts (photos and audio-visual content) of “Live Tinted” to comprehend how Otherness is presented on Instagram and whether its  content affects the identity of the user and member of the community. The virtual community seems to choose to promote ndividuals of different backgrounds, religions and distinctly different external characteristics. Through digital storytelling, they share different personal stories about their identities. In this way, they achieve the identification and commitment of the members to the community. The members of the community also show differences. They come from different countries of the world, but share similar personal experienc

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Author Biographies
Ifigeneia Tepetidi , Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece

Ifigeneia Tepetidi holds an MA in Information Society, Media and Technology as well as a Bachelor degree in Mass Media from the Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University, Greece. Her postgraduate research focused on issues of identity and otherness in digital communities reflecting her research interests in identity, social difference, and the social dimensions of digital communication.E-mail: [email protected]

Αngeliki Gazi, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece

Αngeliki Gazi, Phd , is an Associate Professor of Research Methods and Practices in Media
Psychology and Technology at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion
University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, and a Visiting Professor at the Department of
Psychology, MSc in Cyberpsychology, University of Athens. Her recent research interests concern
the fields of Identity, Gender, and Interpersonal Communication via mediated experience
applications (VR), social media, and mobile phones. E-mail: [email protected]

Zenonas Theodosiou, Cyprus University of Technology

Zenonas Theodosiou, Dr, is a member of the Special Teaching Staff of the Department of
Communication and Internet Studies at the Cyprus University of Technology. His most recent publications include:Theodosiou, Z., Papa, V., & Lanitis, A. (2024, November). AI based Digital
Journalism: Potential, Challenges and Future Directions. In 2024 19th International Workshop
on Semantic and Social Media Adaptation & Personalization (SMAP) (pp. 133-137). IEEE. and
Kouros, T., Theodosiou, Z., & Themistocleous, C. (2025). Machine Learning Bias: Genealogy,
Expression and Prevention. In Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Social Research (pp. 113-126). GB:
CABI. His research interests focus mainly on multimodal data analysis for the extraction of useful
information. ‘’ E-mail: [email protected]

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