| Keywords [eng] |
savireprezentacija, nuomonės formuotojų diskursas, Instagram platforma, multimodalinė diskurso analizė, diskurso istorinė prieiga, self-representation, influencer discourse, Instagram, Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Discourse-Historical Approach |
| Abstract [eng] |
Self-representation on social media has become an important part of contemporary digital identity, especially in the case of influencers whose public image is continuously displayed, shaped and evaluated by users. This thesis analyses how influencers construct their public image on Instagram through the interaction of images, captions and user comments. The study is based on the view that this process is not shaped through a single semiotic resource but emerges multimodally through the interaction of visual choices, textual framing and user response. The aim of the thesis is to examine how self-representation is constructed in the Instagram posts of three selected influencers: Emma Chamberlain, Bretman Rock and Zoë Sugg. The study investigates how visual choices shape the influencers’ public images, how captions guide or expand the interpretation of images and how user comments validate, reinforce or redirect the public image created in the posts. The research material consists of 90 public Instagram posts published in 2025, with 30 posts selected from each influencer’s account. For each post, the image, caption and 10 selected user comments were analysed. The research was carried out using Multimodal Discourse Analysis to examine the visual, textual and user-interaction elements of Instagram posts. The Discourse-Historical Approach was applied as an interpretative framework for explaining how these representations are formed across different levels of analysis. The qualitative findings were further supported by a corpus-assisted linguistic analysis of recurring keywords, n-grams and concordance lines in captions and comments. The findings show distinct but recurring tendencies in the ways influencers present themselves. Emma Chamberlain’s posts construct a professionally curated and visually deliberate public image. Her captions are often minimal, absent or limited to references to collaborations, events or brands, suggesting that her public image is largely image-led. Bretman Rock’s posts foreground expressive and emotionally engaging self-presentation. His images and captions construct a bold, expressive and emotionally engaging public image through humour, self-reference, evaluative language and promotional elements. Zoë Sugg’s posts construct a public image centred on family, home and lifestyle. Her captions have the strongest narrative function, as they connect individual posts into a continuous account of family life, everyday practices and seasonal experiences. The analysis of user comments revealed that comments mostly reinforce rather than question the public image created in the posts. They positively evaluate appearance, lifestyle, emotional tone and personal appeal, therefore contributing to the stabilisation of influencers’ public images. In Emma Chamberlain’s case, comments often orient towards her broader public image. In Bretman Rock’s case, they strengthen his bold and emotionally engaging self-representation. In Zoë Sugg’s case, they confirm a representation based on family and lifestyle themes. The supplementary corpus-assisted linguistic analysis further confirmed these tendencies: recurring keywords, n-grams and concordance lines in captions and comments showed that the features identified in the qualitative analysis recur across the dataset. The thesis concludes that influencer self-representation on Instagram is formed through the interaction of visual choices, caption framing and user comments. The study shows that influencers’ public images are dynamic and may include aesthetically curated, casual, promotional, relational or narrative forms. These forms do not contradict one another; rather, together contribute to the construction of a recognisable public image. Given its focus on three selected influencers and a limited comment sample, the study could be extended through larger datasets, cross-platform comparison or longitudinal analysis of influencer self-representation. |
