Susan C. Herring
Indiana University Bloomington

An affordance of video mediated communication that potentially implicates vast swaths of humanity is self-presentation using facial filters, augmented reality (AR) three-dimensional animations over-aid on the image of a face. Filters are enormously popular among young people on social media, are rapidly gaining in popularity on video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, and are set as defaults on the cameras of some mobile phones. While filters can promote playful enjoyment, present a more ideal version of the self, and facilitate identity exploration, they also raise ethical concerns. In this talk, I present findings from an exploratory study of video filter use by young adult video filter users from China, India, South Korea, Spain, and the US. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted in which participants responded to questions about their attitudes toward video filter use, what filters they use and how different types of filters make them feel, who they use filters with and why, and how they might respond to deceptive filter use. Key findings are presented around three themes: appearance enhancement and self-concept, the dramaturgy of video filter use, and trust in filter-using strangers.