Presentation Culture in the Digital Age: Online Identity Representation on Social Media

Abstract

Presentation culture relates to a habit or lifestyle that involves presenting themselves on social media. It appears to have gained popularity in recent times. Users can employ multiple, multimodal resources in the expression of their identity due to the recent technological capabilities of social media. No one is exempt from using Instagram as a social media platform. Instagram allows users to promote themselves in a variety of ways, including images, videos, and words. This study aims to examine Instagram users' online identity-building strategy, as well as the visual, enumerative, and self-labelling practices that exist, as well as the creative words that appear. Speeches, words, and videos of Instagram influencers were used as data sources for this study. In furthermore, the language is analyzed to identify Instagram users' online identity-building strategies, as well as types of visual, enumerative, and self-labelling practices, and creative words that arise. As a result, the strategies of Instagram social media users in Indonesia to build online identity are diverse. The same applies to visual, enumerative, and self-labelling practices. However, Instagram social media users are trying to form the self-labelling that many people want / desire. Creative words that appear are abbreviations, additions, acronyms, and cultural acculturation. Identity on social media Instagram can be different from the real identity because identity on social media is not only about who we are but also how other people expect and who we want for others.