This paper intends to investigate, analyze and interpret today's ubiquitous media practice of self-presentation on social networks. In order to grasp the complexity of this social phenomenon, the first part of the paper begins with a broader discussion of new media, encompassing the ideological charge of the “new”, the perception of media-driven cultural development as well as the relationship between “old” and “new” media, and then continues with the definition of social networks and related key concepts. Furthermore, it considers the issue of media power through two dominant paradigms in media research: the anti-ideological paradigm, originating from Marshall McLuhan's approach, and the ideological paradigm, developed by Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall within the theory of culture. Using these paradigms, a theoretical framework is constructed by synthesizing McLuhan's emphasis on the matter of the media, Hall's understanding of the reproduction of ideological hegemony in the media, and the psychoanalytic subject driven by desire. In the second part of the paper, based on the described theoretical framework and the material collected by the content analysis method, an interpretation of the practice of self-presentation on Instagram is provided with regard to the context of contemporary neoliberal capitalism. The goal is to examine key questions and critically reflect on prevailing opinions about new media and ideology, as well as to provide an interpretation of the media practice of self-presentation based on an analysis of the Instagram case and a critical reading of the literature.