Instagram as genre 2.0 (political communication case)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the research issues of a new field of linguistics – linguistics 2.0, one of the areas of study of which is the analysis of social media genres – genres 2.0. Taking into account basic parameters of structuring the genre space of political discourse, the analysis of the genre Instagram in the field of political communication is presented. The structural design of the account in the genre contains both the elements that are automatically entered by the software, and the elements that are the result of the author’s activity – photos and video materials, comments to them. The main purpose of Instagram in political communication provides the possibility of realizing individual self-presentation and the ability to appeal to a large audience, which makes Instagram an effective means of cultivating a political image and makes it possible to distinguish the following communication functions: persuasive, appellative, informative, communicative functions, personal branding and others. In Instagram in the field of political communication, an explicit form of presenting authorship is revealed. The mass addressee presents one of main Instagram particularities. The messages of the addressee are mainly his/her comments on the photos and videos published by the author. The genre is characterized by monothematic nature which is proved by the use of thematic words, the main characteristics of which are brevity and representativeness. A distinctive feature of Instagram is both synchronous and asynchronous mode of communication. Such parameter as place is associated with the field of the genre use. Instagram used in the field of political communication relates mainly to institutional discourse, which is used in the political sphere, and – to a lesser extent – in the sphere of everyday interpersonal communication. A set of genres realized in social media dictates certain norms of communicative behavior and, at the same time, is influenced by the personality producing the discourse. The result of this interaction is a unique selection of linguistic means allowing the implementation of the genre form, which comes from the strategies and tactics of speech behavior and which is typical of both paper and digital genres, including genres 2.0.