Analysis of Digital Self-Presentation Practices and Profiles of Spanish Adolescents on Instagram and TikTok

This study analyses self-presentation practices and profiles among Spanish teenagers on Instagram and TikTok. Both of these online spaces prioritise and promote visual publications, are structured to allow feedback on self-presentation, and offer the user filters both to control self-image and to target specific audiences. Three research questions guided the methodological process for the twofold analysis of self-presentation practices on social networks: an exploratory factor analysis to identify latent factors among these practices; and a descriptive analysis of the profiles identified by gender and age. Results indicate that adolescents’ self-presentation practices were related to three different factors: social validation; authenticity; and image control. One of the most outstanding results is that self-presentation practices could be less guided by social feedback, since the number of followers or likes was irrelevant for most adolescents, and that adolescents increasingly tend to be guided by innovative predispositions of truthfulness. In turn, conclusions suggest that teens need to be equipped with suitable self-representation practices for safe and sustainable identity narratives on social networks, since the global COVID-19 pandemic has exponentially increased both the usage and the time spent on social networking sites, enlarging the availability of spaces for adolescents to express themselves and build their identities through different self-representation practices.

Dating Apps Are Used for More Than Dating

Use and design of dating apps has evolved in recent years to accommodate other interaction goals beyond dating, prompting some researchers to now refer to these apps as people-nearby applications (PNAs). With this expansion of use comes increased potential for misinterpretation of users' goals for meeting face-to-face, which can pose risks to user safety particularly when disparities in sexual expectations occur. We present a survey study (n=132) with users of several PNAs and with various motivations for PNA-use to understand how interaction goals are disclosed and detected. The study finds such practices to be far from consistent, with some appearing highly susceptible to misinterpretation such as purposely delaying self-presentation of interaction goals until meeting face-to-face, and implying sexual expectations through vague references to "fun." We conclude by suggesting a modified version of the "swiping" feature in PNAs to facilitate consistent and overt self-presentation of interaction goals in ways that accommodate user tendencies discovered in the study.

Using L2 interactional-pragmatic resources in CMC: A case of Japanese orthography and emoji

Increasingly prevalent use of technologies such as instant messaging and online chat has transformed our traditional ways of learning and teaching pragmatics. This study presents an example of such transformation by demonstrating how computer-mediated communication (CMC) may be employed as a tool to provide second language (L2) learners opportunities to use interactional resources specific to the context of CMC, namely unique orthography and emoji. For the study, we introduced four university-level learners of Japanese to a language exchange messaging application and recorded their online text-based chat interactions with native Japanese speakers over a period of 12 weeks. We followed up the chat data with weekly stimulated verbal recalls (SVR) to investigate L2 learners’ intentions and perceptions surrounding their own and others’ use of unique orthography and emoji (48 SVR sessions total; average 30 minutes per session). Coding and thematic analysis of the chat data revealed learners’ agentive use of orthography and emoji as resources for communication. In addition, the SVR data revealed a variety of personal and interpersonal reasons behind their use, including learners’ concerns over self-presentation, interpersonal relationships, identity, and discourse management. The findings not only demonstrate how CMC can afford learners a unique environment for experimenting with a range of context-appropriate interactional resources to convey pragmatic meaning, but also shed light on the various, sometimes competing, considerations and complex processes underlying learners’ pragmatic choices in CMC.

For Exercise, Relaxation, or Spirituality: Exploring Participation Motives and Conformity to Masculine Norms among Male and Female Yoga Participants

Yoga is a traditional practice from India with the potential to promote physical activity and health. Participation worldwide remains low, particularly among men. To better understand yoga participation parameters, with a special focus on what influences male participation, this study examined gender differences in participation motives and conformity to masculine norms. It also explored these factors across three participant subgroups who differed in their engagement with the physical and the more psycho-spiritual aspects of yoga. A total of 546 yoga participants (138 males, 399 females, 9 others), 18–73 years old, completed an online survey that included an adapted version of the Exercise Motivation Inventory–2 and three subscales from the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory–46. Results showed significant gender differences in participation motives and conformity to masculine norms. Females were more motivated by positive affect, health/fitness, nimbleness, Mind–Body integration, and coping/stress management, whereas males were more motivated by supplementary activity and competition/social recognition. These differences should be considered in tailoring messages to promote uptake and continued participation. Furthermore, males were more likely than females to conform to emotional control and heterosexual self-presentation masculine norms. Future research may examine how differences in masculine norm adherence influences uptake, particularly among men.

Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines the proliferation of alt. health influencers during the COVID-19 pandemic. I analyse the self-presentation strategies used by four alt. health influencers to achieve visibility and status on Instagram over a 12-month period from 11 March 2020, when the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation. My analysis reveals the ways in which these influencers appeal to the utopian discourses of early web culture and the underlying principles of wellness culture to build and sustain an online following. While early accounts of micro-celebrity treat participatory culture as democratising and progressive, this article demonstrates how the participatory affordances of social media have been exploited to spread misinformation, conspiratorial thinking and far-right extremism. These findings develop previous work on ‘conspirituality’ by demonstrating how wellness culture and web culture can coalesce for authoritarian ends.

Playing to be influencers: A comparative study on Spanish and Colombian young people on Instagram

This paper explores and describes how Colombian and Spanish young people present themselves on Instagram according to the social game and the symbolic capital that they infer as normative from influencers. The methodology used combines the focus group technique (seven groups) with a content analysis of the profiles of the informants (N = 651). In total, 53 first-year creative industries university students participated. The results show that the work developed by the influencers has given rise to an aspirational narrative genre that young people tend to emulate according to the Instagram habitus in order to be recognised as leading players. Their self-presentation has three main features: a) a preference for showing ‘in-classifying’ practices such as leisure and tastes for freedom; b) the predominance of a specific type of profile and gestures that avoids self-production markers and aspires towards a global audience; and c) the normalisation of self-promotional discourse. Most informants experience Instagram as a game in which they compete to accumulate visibility conceived as relational validation, although in the case of Colombian informants there is a more professional outlook towards the platform. Finally, for all of them, Instagram constitutes a serious game, and many of them admit to feeling too exposed. As a result, they have implemented self-surveillance practices, such as consulting with peers before posting photographs, using secondary accounts and deleting posts.

Impression Management Tactics in Job Interviews among Fresh graduates in Malaysia: A Case Study in a Workplace

The job interview is a viable assessment platform for interviewers to determine the viable prospective graduate for job hiring. During such critical meeting point, the fate of fresh graduates is decided by representatives of an organisation on the suitability of an interviewee for the job. Yet many fresh graduates struggle at such entry level gatekeeping to the professional workplace in view of inability to impress the interviewer. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether impression management tactics are portrayed by the fresh graduates during job interviews. They were 15 interviewees who participated in the present study. The job interview data from an organisation was analysed qualitatively using impression management tactics (IMTs) theories. The findings show that the interviewees were poor impression management tactics; interviewees indicated lack of self-presentation and exemplification as positive indicators in securing a job. Hence, impression management tactics are essential in job interviews.

Michelin Is Coming to Town: Organizational Responses to Status Shocks

What happens in the aftermath of the introduction of a new status ranking? In this study, we exploit the unique empirical opportunity generated by the release of the first edition of the Michelin Guide for Washington, DC, in the fall of 2016. We build on prior work on rankings as insecurity-inducing devices by suggesting that newly awarded high-status actors modify their self-presentation attributes to fit with what they believe audiences expect from the elite. Our results show that, depending on their standing prior to Michelin’s entry, restaurants acted upon different attributes of their self-presentation. Restaurants with high prior standing emphasized attributes that channeled authenticity and exclusivity, which may imply that their Michelin designation triggered operational changes. Actors with low prior standing, on the other hand, acted on descriptive attributes that did not necessarily imply operational changes and could be easily manipulated to signal their belonging among the elite. We contribute to research on status and conformity by disentangling the sources and types of conformity behaviors that newly awarded high-status actors deploy. This paper was accepted by Lamar Pierce, organizations.