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Filters, Feeds, and Femininity: A Comparative Study of Beauty Engagement on TikTok and Instagram

Holmström, Emma LU and Antony, Lidia LU (2025) BUSN39 20251
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Background: The beauty industry has transitioned away from traditional marketing and toward interactive, social media-driven techniques, with firms engaging customers with influencers and user-generated content on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. While most studies focus on advertisements and influencers, little is known about how average users, particularly young women, interact with beauty material. This study investigates how platform features influence consumer behavior, beauty habits, and emotional experiences.
Purpose: This thesis explores how young women in Sweden interact with beauty content on both TikTok and Instagram, with particular focus on the regularity, depth, and nature of those interactions. It analyzes how... (More)
Background: The beauty industry has transitioned away from traditional marketing and toward interactive, social media-driven techniques, with firms engaging customers with influencers and user-generated content on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. While most studies focus on advertisements and influencers, little is known about how average users, particularly young women, interact with beauty material. This study investigates how platform features influence consumer behavior, beauty habits, and emotional experiences.
Purpose: This thesis explores how young women in Sweden interact with beauty content on both TikTok and Instagram, with particular focus on the regularity, depth, and nature of those interactions. It analyzes how platform characteristics influence self-presentation, identity, and authenticity, moving the focus away from advertising and onto ordinary consumer experiences that go beyond influencer culture.
Method: A qualitative study design was used, which included interviews that were semi-structured with women aged 20 to 30. The study uses thematic analysis to identify major patterns in user behavior and emotional responses. Based on constructivist and interpretivist concepts, the study offers subtle insights into social media's evolving role in defining current beauty culture.
Conclusion: Results show that while interacting with beauty content on Instagram and TikTok, young women constantly balance authenticity, self-presentation, and platform rules. While these platforms provide opportunities for personal discovery and identity expression, they also place subtle pressures. These constraints elevate beauty engagement to an emotionally charged performance shaped by algorithmic visibility, aesthetic expectations and social factors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Holmström, Emma LU and Antony, Lidia LU
supervisor
organization
course
BUSN39 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
language
English
id
9206292
date added to LUP
2025-06-30 12:11:16
date last changed
2025-06-30 12:11:16
@misc{9206292,
  abstract     = {{Background: The beauty industry has transitioned away from traditional marketing and toward interactive, social media-driven techniques, with firms engaging customers with influencers and user-generated content on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. While most studies focus on advertisements and influencers, little is known about how average users, particularly young women, interact with beauty material. This study investigates how platform features influence consumer behavior, beauty habits, and emotional experiences.
Purpose: This thesis explores how young women in Sweden interact with beauty content on both TikTok and Instagram, with particular focus on the regularity, depth, and nature of those interactions. It analyzes how platform characteristics influence self-presentation, identity, and authenticity, moving the focus away from advertising and onto ordinary consumer experiences that go beyond influencer culture.
Method: A qualitative study design was used, which included interviews that were semi-structured with women aged 20 to 30. The study uses thematic analysis to identify major patterns in user behavior and emotional responses. Based on constructivist and interpretivist concepts, the study offers subtle insights into social media's evolving role in defining current beauty culture.
Conclusion: Results show that while interacting with beauty content on Instagram and TikTok, young women constantly balance authenticity, self-presentation, and platform rules. While these platforms provide opportunities for personal discovery and identity expression, they also place subtle pressures. These constraints elevate beauty engagement to an emotionally charged performance shaped by algorithmic visibility, aesthetic expectations and social factors.}},
  author       = {{Holmström, Emma and Antony, Lidia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Filters, Feeds, and Femininity: A Comparative Study of Beauty Engagement on TikTok and Instagram}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}