THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON FLEXING CULTURE PHENOMENON IN INDONESIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

This study aims to examine the influence of the emergence of a flexing culture in people's behavior on social media. Flexing is the behavior of showing off property or wealth on social media with the aim of getting recognition from others. Launching from the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia which states that the population of Crazy Rich or Sultan in Indonesia in 2020 was recorded at 1,390 people. This number increased by 1 percent during the 2021 pandemic to 1,403 people. This research includes qualitative research with literature review and observation methods that can produce data in the form of descriptive analysis. The object of this research is several social media accounts such as Instagram, from several celebrity accounts, influencers, and people who have a large number of followers on their social media accounts. Flexing has positive and negative impact for society or for the perpetrators. Consumer behavior increases because of this flexing culture. Reality and fantasy become fused because of the behavior of people who like to show off their lives on social media, as a virtual world. There are 2 types of flexing, namely genuine and fake flexing.