Little research has been conducted on the question of academics' use of social media. The effects of social media on the educational environment of postgraduate students need to be further explored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the underlying values and ideas of being in postgraduate education by analysing 176 posted photos on social media. The findings show that PhD students manifest their educational status by presenting themselves as being in a process, staging academic artefacts and announcing important achievements towards the goal of earning their degree. These activities represent a global understanding of being a PhD student, that exists regardless of nation, gender or ethnicity and as such represents a “meta curricula” that exists above and beyond any locally defined PhD syllabus. It should be considered that the constant mirroring of PhD student life that has been made possible via social platforms seems to gain in importance and that the enculturation into the academic culture that exists among postgraduate students' own activities on social media needs to be taken into account when addressing postgraduate education, in practice as well as in research. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd